Three individuals, including an infant, have tragically been gunned down at a Utah carnival following a heated disagreement. Authorities have apprehended a teenager in connection with the shooting.
Spin-off:
A Tragic Night at WestFest: Three Lives Taken in Utility Carnival Shooting
Heads were left spinning on the night of June 15, 2025, at the WestFest carnival in West Valley City, Utah. The joyous atmosphere was shattered when a heated argument between two groups escalated into a deadly gunfight, leaving an 8-month-old infant, Anderson Garcia Cabrera Jr., a 41-year-old woman named Fnu Reena, and an 18-year-old man, Hassan Lugundi, lifeless.
Witnessing the altercation were the brave officers patrolling the event, who quickly moved to intervene. However, as they tried to put a stop to the chaos, a 16-year-old male, later identified as Matthiaz Cantre Lauti Ioane-Register, pulled out a gun and unleashed chaos. Though an officer returned fire, no one was hit in the exchange.
Sadly, the innocent 41-year-old Fnu Reena from West Jordan, Utah, who was eight weeks pregnant, was killed along with the others. The pregnancy added an additional count of murder to the other charges under Utah law, as the unborn child was also considered a victim.
The intended target of the shooting, Hassan Lugundi, also succumbed to his injuries. Evidence suggests that Lugundi was associated with the Bloods gang, while Ioane-Register was a member of the Titanic Crip Society (TCS), indicating a possible gang-related incident.
Two other victims were teenagers - a 17-year-old female and a 15-year-old male - who were both hit in the arm during the shooting. The condition of the teenagers is unknown, and it remains unclear if they are related to the original groups involved. A pregnant woman was also hurt while trying to flee the scene by climbing a fence.
Ioane-Register, the suspected gunman, was taken into custody immediately following the incident. He was charged with four counts of aggravated murder, along with other firearm charges. Although Ioane-Register is only 16 years old, he cannot face the death penalty but may serve life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.
West Valley City, a suburb of Salt Lake City with around 134,000 residents, was left reeling from the senseless violence. The shooting marked the end of a harrowing weekend in the Salt Lake City area, adding to the growing unrest after another shooting at a protest the day before.
In brief, the WestFest carnival turned tragic as a heated dispute between two groups led to a fatal shooting that took three lives, including an infant and a pregnant woman, and left multiple others injured. The incident appears to be gang-related with the teenage suspect Matthiaz Cantre Lauti Ioane-Register facing serious murder charges.
The tragic shooting at WestFest on June 15, 2025, not only highlighted the dangers of war-and-conflicts but also underscored the intertwining of politics and crime-and-justice, as Utah authorities investigate a possible gang-related incident involving the Bloods and the Titanic Crip Society. General-news outlets reported that the shooting left three lives extinguished, including an infant, a pregnant woman, and an 18-year-old man, while adding to the ongoing tension in the Salt Lake City area following another shooting at a protest the day prior.
