SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Sept. 9, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — Two gang members have been arrested and police are looking for a third, after the trio allegedly assaulted people in two separate, random attacks at the state fairpark Saturday night.
Lt. Gary Trost, Salt Lake City Police Department, told Gephardt Daily that officers were called to the “fairgrounds” at Utah State Fair Park, 155 N. 1000 West, on reports of assaults by gang members.
Trost said although the suspects are documented gang members, the incidents didn’t involve gangs fighting each other. He described the suspects as “a bunch of hoodlums looking for trouble.”
“The first one was sort of ‘hey, you bumped into me so I’m gonna punch you’,” Trost said. The motive for the second incident isn’t known.
Trost said each victim was punched once.
Two of the three suspects were arrested and booked into jail. They will be charged with assault.
Police were still seeking the third suspect late Saturday night. Trost said the gang unit is following up on this case.
I watched this assault happen last night at the fair. They literally punched a poor girl in the face, then grabbed her by the hair and slammed her face onto the ground. It was ridiculous, escalated quickly… There were more than 3 of them in the group though. One of them punched another guy in the face. They were all wearing blue shirts – mixed ethnicities though. I guess the assault that I saw was their second one of the night.