Police say school officials and Escalante Elementary contacted police when an 8-year-old student was not picked up from school at the expected time.
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Police say they’ve arrested a 32-year-old man they believe shot three people, including a 2-year-old girl, who shared his northwest Salt Lake City home.
Poike had rented the upstairs portion of the home from Tran, for about six months while Tran lives in the basement apartment.
Police on Saturday identified the victims as Heike Poike, 50, Lyric Poike, 2 months old, and Dakota Smith, 28.
Alexander Hung Tran, 32, was arrested Saturday after officers found him the night before inside the home with a gun, Salt Lake City police Detective Richard Chipping said.
Chipping said Tran lived in the basement apartment of the boy’s home and was found inside with a firearm.
Chipping didn’t have details about how many gunshot wounds each of the victims had or Tran’s behavior when police encountered him.
Heike Poike was the 8-year-old boy’s grandmother, and the baby was his sister. When the school couldn’t get a hold of family, it called police, McGowan said.
“So they went around to the back door, and the back door was open”, McGowan said.
When they arrived at the house no one answered the front door and police said they saw a body covered with a tarp through a window, according to Gephardt Daily. “And so the police entered to do a protective sweep”.
Investigators don’t know of any further relationship that Tran may have had with the family or any motivation for the shootings, Chipping said. Booking documents indicate Tran faces three counts of aggravated murder.
Neighbor Robert Fullmer said Tran’s parents bought the home less than a year ago.
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“We’re very, very sad when we go into these types of situations, and we can only feel frightful for this 8-year-old boy, who has to continue living with this information”, Chipping said.
