1 killed in SLC shooting Sunday morning, 2 arrested in chaotic aftermath

SALT LAKE CITY — One person was shot and killed early Sunday morning in downtown Salt Lake City where a large crowd gathered and fights broke out after life-saving efforts of the victim were unsuccessful in a chaotic scene.

Salt Lake City Police Department officers, along with paramedics, tried to save the life of a man found shot on the ground on Market Street, but were not able to do so as he died as a crowd gathered from a late-night venue.

“The individuals who were on scene kept trying to perform CPR, so our officers were trying to get everyone to move back, so our officers who are trained in first aid, the paramedics, the firefighters who are all trained in first aid could start could take over those lifesaving efforts,” said Brent Weisberg, spokesman with SLCPD said. “That eventually did happen.”

Police arrested two people at the scene of the shooting, one for assault during a fight that broke out after the shooting and another for crossing into the homicide crime-scene perimeter.

“This was a very emotionally charged situation,” Weisberg said. “The people who were there, they witnessed something very traumatic, so emotions were very high.”

Multiple 911 calls about the shooting, near 60 West Market Street — near the parking lot next to the New Yorker — were made just after 4:04 a.m. Sunday. Officers arrived within one minute of the calls, according to SLCPD spokesman Brent Weisberg, but the person or people who shot the man left the area before police arrived, according to witnesses.

Weisberg said police believe the shooting was an isolated incident but it is not known who was involved or why. Weisberg said it is believed they shooter and the victim likely knew each other or that there was some sort of argument or fight but no gun has been recovered and he said while it is alarming that the shooter is at large, it isn’t believed there is a major threat to the community.

“We know there was a large group of people down at a late-night establishment on Market Street. We are still trying to figure out the motive for this,” Weisberg said.

He asked for the public’s help to identify those involved in the shooting. He asked that anyone with information on the shooting including descriptions of people involved, vehicles that left the scene, or anyone with cell-phone video of the events related to the shooting, to call SLCPD.

“There isn’t a shooter in custody right now, that’s still concerning to us, but we don’t feel that this person is going to be a threat to the general public,” Weisberg said.

More officers were called to the area of the shooting to help manage the growing early-morning crowd and keep people who were gathered, out of the crime scene. Weisberg said some citizens were involved in trying to save the shooting victim’s life and that  many gathered knew the shooting victim.

While attempted life-saving efforts were made, police were also looking for other possible victims and witnesses and emotions ran high, according to Weisberg.

“Some of those individuals were very upset about what happened … Unfortunately we did have to make one arrest of a person who did cross the yellow crime scene tape into the crime scene.”

While officers were waiting for detectives, a separate fight broke out. One person was arrested for assault.

“We understand the community witnessed something  very tragic, very violent,” Weisberg said.

We are investigating a deadly shooting in downtown near 60 West Market Street.

At this time, there is no evidence to suggest this shooting had any connection to any Pride 2023 events occurring.

Link: https://t.co/vXAt8StJn5#SLC #SLCPD #SaltLakeCity pic.twitter.com/dLW5qC4e1m

— Salt Lake City Police (@slcpd) June 4, 2023

He praised officers for helping to deescalate the situation and said it was understandable that people were upset. He said police had a difficult job of preserving the crime scene but also helping those in the crowd deal with a traumatic situation and officers created a space down the street from the shooting to allow people to deal with the aftermath of the killing.

Weisberg said there is no evidence to suggest the shooting was in any way associated with Pride events that are taking place in Salt Lake City the same weekend. The venue wasn’t affiliated with Pride events.

He said police wanted to assure citizens about that events for this weekend are safe and for subsequent weekends as well, with extra weekend patrols planned. The Salt Lake City Pride Parade on Sunday is expected to draw over 100,000 people.