- Ezekiel Isaiah Tai, 22, was arrested for allegedly obstructing a double-murder investigation.
- The incident occurred Jan. 7 during a funeral at a Salt Lake church.
- Tai allegedly drove two victims involved in the shooting to a hospital.
SALT LAKE CITY — A second man has been arrested and accused of obstructing the police investigation into a double-killing at a Salt Lake church parking lot while a funeral was happening inside.
Ezekiel Isaiah Tai, 22, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Wednesday for investigation of obstruction of justice.
Last week, Ryan Daniel Toutai, 32, was arrested. He was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony.
On Jan. 7, police responded to a report of a shooting with multiple victims in the parking lot of a meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 660 N. Redwood Road just after 7:30 p.m. Sione Vatuvei, 38, of Glendale, and Vaea Tulikihihifo, 46, were killed. Six other men were taken to local hospitals.
As of Thursday, no one has been arrested and directly accused of being a gunman in the shooting. Salt Lake police say witnesses have not been cooperating with detectives.
According to a police booking affidavit for Tai, shortly after the shooting a GMC Yukon XL arrived at University of Utah Hospital and two of the shooting victims were dropped off.
"Video surveillance at the hospital captures two additional males who step out of the Yukon to assist with getting the wounded individuals out. The Yukon then drove away from the hospital with the two additional males inside," the affidavit states.
Detectives traced the Yukon to an address in West Jordan.
"A search warrant was served at the West Jordan address to seize the vehicle and search for additional evidence related to the shooting. Evidence obtained from the vehicle confirmed that it was involved with the shooting," according to the affidavit.
Tai was inside the West Jordan residence as police served the search warrant.
"Ezekiel closely matches the description of the male who was driving the GMC Yukon when it dropped off the wounded males at the hospital. Investigators also received independent information that the male driving the vehicle was Ezekiel," police noted.
Tai was seen at the residence "cleaning the inside of the Yukon with chemical cleaners. The license plates had also been removed from the vehicle, and the OnStar GPS locator had been torn out," the affidavit alleges. "The license plates and OnStar device were located inside the garage, where Ezekiel was observed cleaning the vehicle."
Tai was detained for questioning but refused to talk to police about the shooting, the affidavit says. Police say Tai has ties to a gang with a long history in Salt Lake City, but does not currently live in Utah.
