- Kennedy Grant Lund received life in prison without parole for a 2018 double murder in a West Valley city backyard.
- Victims Chasidy Gerber and Martin Barron were killed after trying to stop Lund from coming near them with a rifle and without clothing.
- Lund was sentenced on Wednesday by 3rd District Judge Vernice Trease after being found guilty in a February trial.
SALT LAKE CITY — A man was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing two people in his backyard who prosecutors said were trying to protect children.
Kennedy Grant Lund, 31, was found guilty in February of two counts of aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, after shooting two adults in his backyard in the presence of three children.
Chasidy Gerber, 37, and Martin Barron, 33, were both killed. Before Lund was sentenced, Barron's mother spoke about the large impacts of his death on her life, asking for the man to not be granted parole.
"She asked the judge to sentence the defendant to life without the possibility of parole because her family will never get parole for not having their son alive or parole for the feelings they carry because of their son's murder," the mother said, according to a statement from the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office.
It said Gerber's oldest daughter also spoke about the "irreparable harm" caused to many people by Lund's actions. She said she planned her mother's funeral at just 18-years old.
She also asked the judge to impose the maximum penalty, highlighting the impact on the children who witnessed the killings.
The statement said in the evening of June 26, 2018, West Valley City police responded to a report of shots fired and found a woman holding an AR-15 rifle, which she dropped when asked. She directed police to Lund's home, where he was found in the basement without any clothing on and with another AR-15 rifle.
Lund's father reported that his son may have shot someone, he said he had gotten to his home which was across the street from Lund's home and his son ran across the street without clothing holding the rifle. Police officers then found the two bodies in a backyard near several shell casings, the statement said.
According to the statement, the two victims were staying with the tenant of a trailer home that was on the property of Lund's home.
"The defendant said he was inside his apartment, and he thought he heard children screaming as if a crime was being committed against them," the attorneys said.
It said he was not wearing clothes, but he grabbed his rifle and went outside, walked past children playing in a pool, seeing they were fine, and kept walking until he got to the two victims.
"The victims yelled at the defendant for walking naked with a gun in front of kids. The defendant then shot Ms. Gerber five times; the bullets went through her and at least one of those bullets hit Mr. Barron, killing them both," according to the statement.
Soon afterward, Lund was charged with two counts of aggravated murder, a first-degree felony. The statement said Lund was originally scheduled for a jury trial in 2020, but the trial was delayed until 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A 2023 trial ended in a mistrial.
Lund's next trial began on Feb. 24 and he was found guilty by a jury after four days of evidence presented for both counts.
On Wednesday, 3rd District Judge Vernice Trease sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole on both counts, ordering the sentences to be served at the same time.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said his office appreciates Trease ensuring Lund will never be free again after these "heinous murders of innocent people trying to protect young people that were simply playing."
"We mourn with them and hope they feel they have received a measure of justice for their loss," he said.
He thanked prosecutors who worked on the case for years before reaching the conviction, and the West Valley City Police Department for their thorough investigation.
