Couple charged in fatal shooting inside Millcreek apartment

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SALT LAKE CITY — Two people involved in a fatal shooting in Millcreek were formally charged Friday.

Derek Algernon Little, 35, of Salt Lake City, was charged in 3rd District Court with negligent homicide, a class A misdemeanor. Additionally, both he and his girlfriend, Tryana Lynn Scaramella, 27, of Salt Lake City, were each charged with three counts of possession of a firearm by a restricted person, a third-degree felony, and obstructing justice, a class A misdemeanor.

On March 30, police were called to 229 E. Hill Ave. (4050 South) on a report of a man lying on the ground outside an apartment who had apparently been shot, according to charging documents.

Police found Tevita Laloni, 32, of Salt Lake City, in extremely critical condition. He was taken to a local hospital where he died from his injuries a short time later, according to the charges.

As detectives tried to sort through what happened, they learned that Laloni was with Little in Little’s bedroom when the shooting occurred, the charges state.

Little told police that Laloni “brought a handgun over to his apartment. He initially stated that Tevita shot himself while holding the gun. He then told (police) that Tevita took the magazine out of the gun and was trying to pull the slide back. He could not get the slide to go back so he handed the gun to Little for help. Little stated that as Tevita was handing the gun to him, ‘it just went off,’” charging documents state.

Police determined that the gun used in the shooting “is designed to prevent it from discharging unintentionally. The pistol cannot fire unless the trigger is pulled completely,” the charges state.

After Laloni was shot, a neighbor’s doorbell camera captured Little and Scaramella dragging an unconscious Laloni out of their apartment and leaving him outside, before Scaramella called 911 claiming she had just found a man and didn’t know what had happened to him, the charges state.

During a search of their apartment, police found drug paraphernalia, “a loaded 9 mm magazine, a spent 9 mm shell casing and a .22 pump rifle. Also, in plain view in (the) bedroom was a sawed off 12-gauge shotgun with the serial numbers defaced, along with a bag containing many rounds of ammunition,” the charges state.

Originally a third man was arrested for investigation of obstructing justice. As of Friday afternoon, formal charges had not been filed against him.

from Deseret News https://ift.tt/2Rr0cd8