https://www.twitter.com/UtahFlatRanger/status/1934603014553399783

but actually, he appears to be a cautionary tale of mormon missionary activities in the eastern pacific, since his actual ancestry is half-melanesian, half-african:

https://channel2now.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/16-year-old-Matthiaz-Cantre-Lauti-Ioane-Register-charged-with-4-counts-of-murder-in-WestFest-shooting-West-Valley-City-Utah-1.png?v=1750444524

The 16-year-old accused of shooting and killing three people — including a pregnant woman and an infant — at a West Valley City carnival over the weekend is being charged as an adult.

Prosecutors charged Matthiaz Cantre Lauti Ioane-Register with four counts of aggravated murder and nine counts of felony discharge of a firearm in Salt Lake County’s 3rd District Court, according to court documents unveiled on Friday.

Police say Ioane-Register was at West Valley City’s WestFest on Sunday when he opened fire in a crowded area, killing an 18-year-old who was believed to be the intended target, as well as a 41-year-old woman and an 8-month-old baby.

The baby was killed in a stroller alongside a twin sibling, prosecutors say.

The 41-year-old woman was eight weeks pregnant, according to Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill. Ioane-Register is also being charged with the murder of her unborn child. Two other teenagers — a 15-year-old and 17-year-old —- were injured after sustaining gunshot wounds to their arms, Gill said.

Per federal law, children charged as adults cannot face the death penalty or be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Ioane-Register is currently being held in jail without bail.

Gill also confirmed an ongoing investigation into whether responding officers fired their weapons. On Sunday, a West Valley City Police Department spokesperson said one of the officers fired a single round toward the suspect, but didn’t hit him or any of the victims.

“Anytime a law enforcement officer uses any lethal force we have a task force that is involved to do that investigation,” Gill said. “That did happen and that’s a separate, unconnected investigation that is pending.”

Gill told reporters that the shooting is likely gang-related. Ioane-Register, believed to be a member of the gang Titanic Crips Society, was seen on surveillance footage confronting a group of people at the carnival who Gill said were likely part of a rival gang. Moments later, Ioane-Register opened fire, using a handgun that prosecutors say was reported stolen in Louisiana.

Officers recovered 12 shell casings from the area, according to court documents. They believe Ioane-Register fired the handgun in the crowded area until the magazine was empty.

The 16-year-old then quickly turned to flee but was apprehended by police. Gill described the aftermath of the shooting as tense, as people gathered around a detained Ioane-Register, yelling at him and screaming “Fuck TCS,” the acronym for the gang.

Police then moved Ioane-Register to a more secluded area, according to the charges, where he denied shooting anyone other than his intended target, for whom he appeared to show little remorse.

“I’m gonna tell you guys right now, I know what I hit because I know where I was aiming, and I know where I was shooting. I did not hit no baby (sic). It was only one person I hit,” he told officers, according to court documents. “He was already over there on the ground, and I been hitting him. That was the only person I went for. No other bullets went flying elsewhere. There was only one direction. So, there is no way I hit that baby.”

But later, when he was interviewed by detectives, Ioane-Register changed his story, telling them he didn’t know the 18-year-old intended victim, didn’t have a firearm and spent the evening “at WestFest with some homies, just chilling,” according to prosecutors.

When officers told him the 18-year-old was killed, he “laughed and smiled,” court documents read, telling officers he “just liked to laugh about things that are funny.”

More ‘intense’ crimes with younger suspects

Gill said on Friday that while violent crime in Salt Lake County isn’t necessarily increasing, he’s noticing more intense crimes involving younger suspects.

Historically, most homicide suspects in Utah are between the ages of 19 to 28 years old. But according to a recent report from the University of Utah School of Social Work, Gill said that range is now 10 to 19 years old.

“We are becoming more organized, we are becoming more sophisticated as well as the proliferation and access of stolen guns in younger and younger ages is causing this kind of stuff,” he said.

Gill called for more resources to curb what he described as a growing problem.

“Instead of fighting with hands or other things, the easy access to guns is driving these numbers. And that’s something we should pay attention to,” he said. “I think we have about four to six years to invest in the infrastructure so we can stay on top of it.”

https://utahnewsdispatch.com/2025/06/20/west-valley-city-shooting-charges/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5744469&forum_id=2...id.#49059125)