16-Year-Old Accused of Killing 3 at Utah Carnival

Victims in Salt Lake City-area shooting include 8-month-old infant
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 16, 2025 3:17 PM CDT
16-Year-Old Accused of Killing 3 at Utah Carnival
Law enforcement investigate a shooting at WestFest in West Valley City, Utah, June 15, 2025.   (Chris Samuels/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP)

A 16-year-old boy shot five people in a confrontation between two groups at a carnival in a Salt Lake City suburb Sunday, killing three of them, including an 8-month-old infant, police said. The shooting in West Valley City took place a day after an apparently unrelated shooting killed a man at a "No Kings" protest in the Salt Lake City area, the AP reports.

  • Police working at WestFest at Centennial Park, about 6 miles southwest of downtown Salt Lake City, saw the two groups Sunday night. "As they approached to break up the altercation, a 16-year-old male from one of the groups pulled out a gun and fired," the department posted on X. One officer fired back but did not hit anyone.

  • The shooter struck and killed an 18-year-old man in one of the groups, police said. Besides the infant, a 41-year-old woman bystander was killed. Two other teens, a 17-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, were both hit in the arm, police said. It was not clear if they were connected to the groups involved. A pregnant woman was hurt while trying to get over a fence to flee, police said.
  • The 16-year-old was quickly taken into custody, police said. His name would not be released because he was a juvenile, West Valley City spokesperson Roxeanne Vainuku said at a news conference late Sunday. Police were interviewing witnesses to find out more about what happened, Vainuku said. "We don't know yet if this was gang related. We do know that we have two groups of people who were having some sort of a verbal altercation," Vainuku said.
  • The shooting took place directly in front of several carnival rides, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. "The violence and deaths at the WestFest celebration in West Valley are tragic and seem to be the result of youth violence," Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson said in a statement Monday. "I am so deeply saddened by the loss of life, especially that of an innocent bystander and an infant."
(More Utah stories.)

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