SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Oct. 18, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — A man arrested after a SWAT operation Saturday has been booked into jail on seven felony charges.
Vaioleti Fonakimoana Mafi, 31, was arrested in the case. The victims were a male relative of Mafi, the man’s female partner, and their 7-month-old baby.
The woman told Salt Lake City police that at about 3 a.m. that Saturday, they heard their front door being forced open, says a probable cause statement filed by a detective with the SLCPD.
“The male victim went to the door and the female took her baby. The female heard a hit and described it like a punch sound,” that statement says. The male resident told her to go back to the room with the baby, “which she did. She then heard a gunshot. She said she was frightened and called the police.”
Police response
Officers responded to the apartment complex, in the 500 block of Dexter Street, in the Fairpark neighborhood of Salt Lake City. They arrived at 3:24 a.m., according to a news release issued by the SLCPD.
Officers found the front door kicked in, blood on a couch in the entryway, a bullet hole in the front window, a casing outside, and a blood trail leading to another apartment, the probable cause statement says.
SLCPD police officers set up a perimeter and started checking the area. They gave the suspect, later confirmed to be Mafi, “multiple commands for him and anyone else inside to safely exit the apartment,” the police news release says.
Arrest
“The SLCPD SWAT Team responded. At approximately 4 a.m., Mafi came out and surrendered. Officers took him into custody and had Mafi treated by the Salt Lake City Fire Department and Gold Cross for injuries he got during the initial fight.”
A search of Mafi’s apartment turned up a pistol concealed in a closet, along with a loaded magazine with bullets the same caliber as the spent casing, the probable cause statement says. A baggie of marijuana was also found in the apartment.
Mafi was booked on suspicion of:
- Aggravated burglary, a first-degree felony
- Three counts of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony
- Domestic violence in the presence of a child — injury/weapon/death, a third-degree felony
- Possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, a third-degree felony
- Felony discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony
- Possession or use of a controlled substances, a class B misdemeanor
Mafi was booked into the Salt Lake County Metro Jail and ordered to be held without bail.
