A teenage boy allegedly shot five people at a carnival and killed three of them including an eight-month-old infant.
The teen is accused of opening fire as two groups got into a fight at the WestFest carnival at Centennial Park in a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Police officers working at the carnival saw the two groups get into a verbal altercation on 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,’ wrote the West Valley City Police Department on X (formerly Twitter).
An officer fired and did not hit the suspect, who was taken into custody.
The teen allegedly killed Hassan Lugundi, 18, who was believed to be his target; bystander Fnu Reena, 41; and the infant whose identity was not immediately released.
A 15-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl were shot in the arm and had non-life-threatening wounds.
A pregnant woman was also hurt while trying to get over a fence to escape.
The teen was arrested and charged with three counts of homicide. His identity will not be disclosed because he is a juvenile, said West Valley City spokesperson Roxeanne Vainuku on Monday.
What sparked the fight and the teen’s motive was not immediately known.
At the time of the shooting, between 1,000 and 2,000 people were at the carnival, which celebrated the city’s establishment and its cultural diversity.
West Valley City Mayor Karen Lang said that the city council was ‘heartbroken’.
‘What should have been a joyful night of community celebration ended in unimaginable tragedy,’ Lang wrote in statement shared by the police department on Monday.
‘We mourn the lives lost and stand in deep sorrow with the families whose worlds have been changed forever.’
The shooting is not believed to be linked to a fatal shooting at a ‘No Kings’ protest in the Salt Lake City area on Saturday. A man believed to be on a peacekeeping team for the rally opened fire at a man who brandished a rifle and struck him and a bystander, who died at a hospital.
It was one of many ‘No Kings’ protests across the US to stand against what President Donald Trump’s opponents consider to be authoritarian rule by him.
