SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A federal grand jury has indicted two men on firearms charges in connection with a shooting last month in a church parking lot in Salt
FILE - Police respond to a fatal shooting in a parking lot of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. SALT LAKE CITY — A federal grand jury has indicted two men on firearms charges in connection with a shooting last month in a church parking lot in Salt Lake City that left two people dead and six more injured.
The indictment unsealed Friday charges 32-year-old Ryan Toutai with unlawful disposition of a firearm and 26-year-old Fineeva Maka with felon in possession of a firearm, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah said. Investigators used cellphone videos and photos and GPS ankle monitor evidence to tie the two men to a pistol recovered from the Jan. 7 shooting, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Prosecutors allege the two men are gang members. The violence took place in the back parking lot of a place of worship for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon church. Investigators have said the shooting broke out from a dispute between people who knew each other and were attending a funeral. All the victims were adults. No one has yet been charged in the actual killings. The church mostly serves Tongan congregants, its website says. In the 1890s, LDS missionaries brought their faith to Tonga, an archipelago in the South Pacific. More than 25% of the U.S. Tongan population resides in Utah, the headquarters of the church. Toutai and Maka are scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday. It wasn’t clear if they had attorneys and The Associated Press could not immediately reach them for comment. The federal public defender’s office also could not be reached. Police previously arrested Toutai for a charge of felony obstruction of justice in the case. He was in jail on Saturday. A third man also was arrested on the same charge.SALT LAKE CITY — A federal grand jury has indicted two men on firearms charges in connection with a shooting last month in a church parking lot in Salt Lake City that left two people dead and six more injured. The indictment unsealed Friday charges 32-year-old Ryan Toutai with unlawful disposition of a firearm WASHINGTON — Key members of Congress are demanding a swift vote on a war powers resolution that would restrain President Donald Trump’s military attack on Iran unless the administration wins their approval for what they warn is a potentially illegal campaign that risks pulling the United States into a deeper Middle East conflict. Both Many Americans were alarmed recently when immigration officers in Minneapolis took custody of a 5-year-old boy and sent him and his father to a Texas detention center. But he was no outlier. The government has been holding hundreds of children and their parents at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, about 75 miles south of San LAREDO, Texas — A month after ICE agents sent the young Ecuadorian mother and her 7-year-old daughter to a sprawling detention center 1,300 miles from their Minnesota home, they were finally free. But when the bus pulled up to a migrant shelter in the border city of Laredo, dropping off a half-dozen families lugging PHARR, Texas — Latin Grammy winner Bobby Pulido’s music fills the air well before he walks into an adult day care center to round up support for his congressional campaign, his voice crooning in Spanish from a speaker in the corner. A few of the people playing cards and bantering playfully at the South For Black people living with Tourette syndrome, the British Academy Film and Television Arts Awards incident earlier this week where a vocal tic manifested as a racial slur while two Black stars of the movie “Sinners” were onstage has left them with complicated feelings. “It’s been pretty difficult because I feel like there’s such a Chrystal Ortega's tireless dedication recently earned her the WSECU Community Champions Award and a $1,000 grant to further the mission.When Shawn Tibbitts opened Tibbitts FernHill, he was just trying to survive. The small Tacoma restaurant has since earned culinary awards and praise.Wilcox Family Farms is continuing its cherished holiday tradition of giving back by donating nearly one million eggs to food banks across the South Sound region this season.Matthew Ballantyne has transformed that early awareness into action, embodying the organization's mission:"No Kid Sleeps On The Floor In Our Town."Discover Kitsap County’s creative soul: Where Nordic charm meets gothic gardens and ancient traditions thrive Kitsap County is full of wonderfully weird, authentically artsy, and unexpectedly magical corners that make visitors become locals and locals never want to leave.
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