SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Oct. 15, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — A boy charged with the murder of a 20-year-old man last year at a graduation party will now be tried as an adult.
The drive-by shooting took place on June 6, 2021, and killed 20-year-old Sean Amone. Four others suffered critical injuries.
Charged with the murder is Emmanuel Mading, now 17. A judge ruled Thursday that he be tried as an adult, so his arrest documents are no longer restricted.
Mading is charged on suspicion of:
- Murder, a first-degree felony
- Six counts of discharge of firearms, a first-degree felony
- Obstructing justice, a second-degree felony
- Eight counts of felony discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony
The shootings
The drive-by shooting happened at 1354 N. General Drive, just west of Salt Lake City’s Rose Park neighborhood. Salt Lake City police officers responded to a report of shots fired.
“Upon arriving, officers located a deceased male, Sean Amone, with two gunshot wounds to the head, and four other males who had all sustained gunshot wounds and had to be transported to area hospitals in critical condition,” Mading’s probable cause statement says.
The bullets reportedly came from a white Dodge Avenger, which drove by the group once, then returned and fired on it.
The probable cause statement says the party had previously been at Trolley Square, but there was a fight and gunfire, so the group relocated to a residence slightly before the shooting. Police later determined the shooting was related to the Trolley Square altercation.
Following up on a tip, police obtained a search warrant for a residence and white Dodge Avenger in the 1500 block of West Dokos View Court.
Evidence
“Police found a .223 caliber Bushmaster rifle in a bedroom closet,” the probable cause statement says. Officers would also locate two (2) .223 shell casings, and a black ski mask inside the Avenger.
“The shell casings from the scene of the shooting and the casings recovered from the white Dodge Avenger have been preliminarily tested and the results of that testing indicate that they were fired from the .223 Bushmaster recovered during the execution of the search warrant at the Dokos View Court address.”
Mading was identified as one of the people who had been in the car during the shooting. He turned himself in to police.
“Post-Miranda, Mading stated that he was inside the white vehicle when they did a drive-by in Rose Park on a group of Polynesians,” the suspect’s probable cause statement says.
“Mading admitted that he handled the involved rifle and touched the trigger on the rifle. Mading further stated that his DNA and prints would be found on the rifle that was used in the shooting at Mr. Amone’s house. Mading further stated that he knew that they were going to do a drive by shooting on this group.
“Mading stated that after the shooting they immediately tried to clean up the shell casings from the car and dispose of them. Mading admitted the rifle was taken to another location and was the same rifle police detectives had recovered during the execution of a separate search warrant. Mading further admitted that he had deleted his Instagram accounts to hide any evidence that was placed on social media.”
Amone was a West High graduate, as were three of the shooting victims, two of whom had graduated that day, according to information released at the time by the Salt Lake City School District. The other shooting victim was a Highland High School graduate.
A warrant was issued Thursday for Mading’s arrest.
Gephardt Daily will have more information as the story develops.
