Police have arrested three people accused of being involved in a shooting in downtown Salt Lake City that killed two men — but the suspected shooter has not been arrested or charged.
Salt Lake City police have arrested three people in connection with a double homicide near a downtown hotel. The suspected shooter, however, was not one of them.
Police have arrested three people accused of being involved in a shooting in downtown Salt Lake City that killed two men — but the suspected shooter has not been arrested or charged.
Salt Lake City police announced in a Tuesday evening news release that the shooting, which happened Tuesday morning near 171 W. 500 South near the Comfort Inn Downtown, began over a payment dispute between one of the people arrested — whom police say identified herself as a “paid female escort” — and someone renting a hotel room.
At the hotel room, the escort contacted a second person — who has also been arrested — and asked them to send two men as “security,” according to the news release. These were the men who were later shot after allegedly forcing their way into the room, assaulting the renter and stealing his car keys.
Police on Thursday released the names of the two men killed: Phillip Kioa, 40, and Sofeni Heimuli, 36.
A police spokesperson said Thursday that detectives know the identity of the person suspected of shooting Kioa and Heimuli. Police are screening the case with the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, “to determine whether the use of force was legally justified under Utah law.”
The third person arrested was accused of trying to mislead officers looking for the escort. Police say the person said he didn’t know where the escort was, when she was standing right next to him.
According to the police’s news release, the man later told police he didn’t know the escort, or anything about the shooting. However, police said the escort told detectives that she told the man about the shooting before police contacted them, and that he told her not to tell anyone what led up to the homicide.
The Salt Lake Tribune typically does not name arrested individuals before they are charged for their alleged crimes.
Tuesday’s deaths were the first and second homicides reported in Salt Lake City in 2025. There were 12 homicides in the city in 2024.
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