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SANDY — As friends, family and the Jordan High School community mourn the stabbing death of a 16-year-old boy in a Sandy parking lot over the weekend, several of the county's top law enforcers continue to push for ways to curb youth violence.
The death of Kian Hamilton, of Sandy, a freshman at Jordan High, is the latest in a recent rash of violent confrontations involving teenagers and young adults.
Unified police confirmed Monday that another weekend shooting death — this one in Millcreek involving a 14-year-old boy — is believed to be gang-related.
Some of the recent episodes of violence in Salt Lake County involving teens and/or gangs include:
- On July 13, Nuer Deng, 17, a student at Judge Memorial Catholic High School and a member of the basketball team, was shot and killed while sitting in the back of a car at a Winco parking lot, 2592 S. 5600 West. Two people, including a 17-year-old boy, were charged as adults with murder. Police say both suspects have gang affiliations, and Deng was not believed to be the intended target.
- On Aug. 3, Naod Welday, 18, of Millcreek, was shot and killed at the Mount Olympus trailhead parking lot at 5425 Wasatch Blvd. His body was found in the driver's seat of a vehicle. Three males, including a 15-year-old boy, were arrested and charged. Police say the attackers are all documented gang members, but Welday and his friends had no known gang affiliation.
- On Aug. 10, Salt Lake police investigated a gang-related shooting near State Street and Exchange Place. One man was critically injured, and a 24-year-old woman was also injured, according to police. Three people have been arrested.
- Friday night, Kian was stabbed to death during a fight in the Mountain America Expo Center near 9500 S. State. A 16-year-old boy has been arrested. Police have not released any additional details or a possible motive for the killing.
- On Sunday, a 14-year-old boy was shot and killed at the Monaco Apartments in the area of 4115 S. 430 East. Police are looking for four males between the ages of mid-teens to young adults. The group was last seen wearing black hoodies over their heads and black and white bandanas on their hands. Police say the shooting is believed to be gang-related.
- Also Sunday in West Valley City, an 18-year-old man was arrested and accused of pulling a gun on a 14-year-old boy and hitting him in the head with his gun.
Sandy police have not released a possible motive for Kian's death, nor have they said whether anyone affiliated with a gang is believed to have been involved. Kian was a cherished member of the Jordan High baseball team.
"Kian had a loving spirit and a kind heart. His smile was infectious, and he had a special gift for making people laugh. He had a passion for baseball and cherished spending time with his friends and family. To everyone who knew Kian, he was a bright, intelligent young man with his whole life ahead of him," a GoFundMe campaign* states.
At least two recent killings, however, did involve documented gang members, even if the victims themselves had no gang affiliation.
Gang violence continues
Prosecutors say all those charged in the shooting death of Naod Welday at the Mount Olympus trailhead parking lot are documented gang members, and they may have targeted Welday and his friends simply because of the way they looked. Prosecutors, in asking that the arrested trio be held in custody without the possibility of posting bail pending trial, noted that the same gang has ties to a triple killing in West Jordan in 2022. The rival gang members being targeted in that shooting consisted of "young male immigrants from Sudan," court documents state.
Similarly, in the charging documents filed for the shooting death of Nuer Deng, prosecutors also described a disagreement between Sudanese refugees as being a possible contributing factor in the killing.
In the attack in the parking lot of the Mt. Olympus trailhead, the statements made by the three suspects "clearly demonstrated that they believed the victims to be members of a rival gang. Moreover, based on the available evidence, (they) appear to have reached this conclusion solely based on the victims' physical appearance," charging documents state. Police have emphasized the victims were not affiliated with any gang.
Prosecutors further noted that one of the defendants, Mateo Martinez, was involved in a gang-related shooting in Midvale the very next day and was injured from being shot in the arm.
The 15-year-old boy arrested in connection with the Mt. Olympus Trailhead killing has exhibited similar behavior in the past, according to juvenile court records. In February, he was charged with robbery after police say he and four others went up to a girl, asked her if she "banged," then assaulted and robbed her. The boy was wearing a GPS ankle monitor at the time issued by the Division of Juvenile Justice and Youth Service.
While the teen was in Salt Lake Valley Juvenile Detention in March, he punched another boy after also asking him if he was affiliated with a gang, to which the victim said "no," according to the charges. In December, when the boy was 14, he was charged in juvenile court in Davis County with possession of a stolen vehicle.
Adult gangs recruiting younger
Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera says her office has been dealing for several years now with gangs recruiting younger and younger people.
"Adults are having these kids do the crime for them, because the juveniles are treated differently" in the court system, she said.
Rivera, who worked for many years in the Metro Gang Unit, says it's "astonishing" to her today to see how many 13-, 14- and 15-year-olds are being recruited into gangs. She was at the state Capitol Monday telling a legislative interim committee that the adults who are recruiting teens must also be held accountable.
"We need to hit adults hard," she said. "There has to be something that says if juveniles are recruited, you will be held responsible."
Likewise, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill says youth violence "isn't a brand-new phenomenon." However, with the tremendous growth Utah is experiencing combined with the easy accessibility of guns and continued gang activity, he says now is the time for policymakers "to make investments in an intentional way."
"The days of ignoring or responding after the fact won't carry us through the next four or five years," Gill told KSL.com. "If you're truly committed to the idea of public safety, then you need to make intentional investments. The days of being a sleepy little town in the Rockies will go away soon with the trajectory we're at."
Gill points to the meeting he had with his team putting together the criminal charges that were filed in the Mt. Olympus Trailhead murder. He said 32 people were in the room that day, even though Gill says he has never been given funding specifically earmarked for gang prosecution in his office. He is hoping lawmakers will make "front-loaded investments" so he can have "more prosecutors dedicated to work with law enforcement efforts and work proactively, and not after the fact."
He also talked, as the sheriff did, about drafting legislation that would make the recruitment of young gang members by adults a felony crime.
*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
