The deadly shooting outside a Utah church grew out of a dispute between funeral goers, police say

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A complicated crime scene and uncooperative witnesses hindered Salt Lake City police efforts to investigate a fatal shooting outside a house of worship belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The shooting in a church parking lot Wednesday night left two people dead and six injured, including five who remained hospitalized with police protection Thursday. Investigators said the shooting erupted from a dispute between people who knew each other and were attending a funeral.

No arrests had been made as of early Thursday evening. Authorities say they do not know whether the shooting was gang-related and that they are having trouble getting witnesses to cooperate.

Police do not believe the shooting was random or motivated by animus against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known widely as the Mormon church.

“Our houses of worship are sacred, whatever the affiliation,” Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd said Thursday. “We should all protect those spaces. We should all respect those spaces.”

All the shooting victims were adults. Vaea Tulikihihifo, 46, and Sione Vatuvei, 38, were identified as the two people killed.

The red brick church in northwest Salt Lake City mostly serves Tongan congregants and holds regular worship services in their native tongue, according to its website.

Latter-day Saint missionaries first arrived in Tonga in the early 1890s, according to the church’s website. At first, they had little success and the mission closed in 1897. But a decade later, missionaries opened a school in Neiafu, Tonga’s second-largest town, and began preaching across the islands. Dozens of other schools were started by missionaries and seven remain open. The church's membership in Tonga has grown to 68,000 and 175 congregations.

“Since the 19th century, the church has had a really, really prominent place in Tongan society. Depending on who you ask, somewhere between one-third and two-thirds of everybody who lives in Tonga are members of the LDS church,” said Matthew Bowman, a Claremont Graduate University professor specializing in U.S. religious history.

Today, more than a quarter of the Tongan population in the U.S. resides in Utah, where the church is headquartered. The state's Tongan population is about 23,000 and is mostly concentrated in Salt Lake County, according to census data.

On Wednesday night, residents from a housing complex next to the church flooded outside to help victims and console dozens of people who had been attending a funeral for a man identified by family on social media as Asi Sekona. Several family members could not immediately be reached for comment.

Brennan McIntire said he and his wife, Kenna, heard several loud gunshots from their apartment next to the church parking lot while watching TV. He jumped off the couch and ran outside in flip-flops to see what happened.

“As soon as I came over, I see someone on the ground,” he said. “People are attending to him and crying and arguing.”

Kenna McIntire came outside soon after and was rattled at the sight of first responders lifting an unconscious woman into an ambulance while people huddled around and sobbed.

The couple said they hear gunshots in their neighborhood almost daily, but never right outside their door.

“It was really heartbreaking to hear and see,” Kenna McIntire said.

About 100 law enforcement vehicles were at the scene in the aftermath, and helicopters flew overhead. Police said they were reviewing license plate readers and surveillance videos from nearby businesses in their search for suspects.

The church was cooperating with law enforcement and said it was grateful for first responders' quick efforts.

“We extend prayers for all who have been impacted by this tragedy and express deep concern that any sacred space intended for worship should be subjected to violence of any kind,” church spokesperson Sam Penrod said.

Latter-day Saints have been on heightened alert since four people were killed when a former Marine opened fire in one of their churches in Michigan in September and set it ablaze. The FBI found that he was motivated by “anti-religious beliefs” against the church.

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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Vaea Tulikihihifo’s last name, which had previously been misspelled by Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd.