Second man charged in connection to ‘highly unusual’ fatal shooting in Riverton
Sep 12, 2024, 7:12 PM | Updated: 7:12 pm

FILE - Riverton Police Department cruisers are pictured in Riverton on Thursday Feb. 11, 2021. (Annie Barker, Deseret News)
(Annie Barker, Deseret News)
RIVERTON — A man is being accused of driving the alleged shooter that killed a 19-year-old man in August.
According to court documents, Max Day, 20, was charged with first-degree felony obstruction of justice in the Third District Court on Thursday.
On Aug. 18, Riverton police officers responded to a shots-fired call near 13400 Dragonfly Ln. at approximately 11:55 p.m. Police reported finding the deceased 19-year-old victim, who was wearing a bulletproof Kevlar vest and had a handgun and a machete, with multiple gunshot wounds.
According to court documents, police found a witness’s wallet inside a black jacket on the ground. Riverton police detectives checked the IDs in the wallet and discovered the owner was registered to an address in Orem.
Detectives also obtained surveillance footage, which showed a silver passenger car leaving the area at a high rate of speed after the shooting.
After obtaining search warrants, police responded to the Orem address and found a silver Lexus passenger car in the driveway that matched the description of the fleeing car.
According to court documents, Day admitted to police that the Lexus was his car, and he was driving it with the second suspect, Thomas Leeynn Rose, 19, on the night of the shooting.
“During the interaction between Day, Rose, and the deceased, Rose fired several shots at the deceased male,” court documents stated. “Rose and Day then left the area at a high rate of speed.”
Day told detectives that Rose threw his phone out of the car, telling him “they needed to get rid of it so police couldn’t track them.”
According to court documents, Day also admitted to removing his license plate and stickers from his Lexus to make it harder for police to identify him.
“Detectives, through the investigation, learned that Rose had tried to sell the gun he had used in the shooting,” court documents stated.