SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah, Dec. 21, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — A third suspect in the November gunfight at Scallywags, a bar in South Salt Lake, has been taken into custody in San Francisco.
Pelenise Taouma, 22, was booked into jail Thursday in San Francisco on an unrelated warrant for parole violation.
Gary Keller, spokesman for the South Salt Lake Police Department, confirmed to Gephardt Daily that SSLPD officials are preparing a warrant for Taouma’s arrest in connection with the Nov. 11 fistfight turned gunfight at Scallywags.
After a warrant is obtained, the process will be initiated to extradite Taouma to Utah, Keller said.
Already charged in the case are 27-year-old Falefatu Fatiau and 22-year-old Stephano Tuisila. In November, each was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on 19 counts of “felony discharge of a firearm.”
Fatiau also faces one count of possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person and one of aggravated assault resulting in serious bodily injury, each a second-degree felony.
One woman was critically injured in the Nov. 11 shootings, but her condition was later upgraded. A man was hospitalized after suffering a serious beating, Keller said shortly after the incident.
Keller said at the time that a fist fight erupted inside Scallywags, and the security staff escorted those who participated out of the building. Once the offending patrons were out in the parking lot, someone threw a glass and another fight erupted, he said.
That’s when Fatiau and Tuisila went to their vehicle and took out a “handgun and an assault rifle” and started shooting into the crowd, Keller said at the time.
Officers were able to stop the vehicle as the suspects attempted to leave the parking lot.
An SSLPD officer filed Fatiau’s probable cause statement:
“Arrestee exited the bar along with a group of his friends and obtained firearms,” the statement says.
“Arrestee fired 11 rounds from a .223 rifle while two other associates fired eight additional rounds towards multiple individuals. A female victim was struck three times causing serious bodily injury. Arrestee admitted to firing the rifle post-Miranda. Arrestee’s actions were captured on video surveillance.”
A second SSLPD officer filed Tuisila’s statement:
“Arrestee was involved in a bar fight at Scallywags Bar,” Tuisila’s probable cause statement says.
“Arrestee exited the bar along with a group of his friends and obtained firearms. Arrestee admitted to firing a handgun post-Miranda. Arrestee admitted to firing one round from a handgun while two other associates fired 18 additional rounds towards multiple individuals.”
Fatiau and Tuisila are being held on $225,000 and $250,000 bail, respectively.
The owner of Scallywags has since said he would close the bar due to ongoing problems with client violence.
Gephardt Daily will have more on the case as information becomes available.
