SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Aug. 22, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Charges have been filed against two suspects in the July 13, 2024 shooting death of Nuer Deng, a 17-year-old Judge Memorial High student who was mortally wounded in the parking lot of a West Valley City WinCo grocery store.
The suspects, identified as Mare Biel, 18, of Glendale, Arizona, and Bevan Kuajian, 17, of West Valley City, have each been charged with one count of first-degree felony murder, one count of second-degree felony discharge of a firearm with bodily injury, one count of second-degree felony obstruction of justice, and eight counts of third-degree felony discharge of a firearm.
Court documents, filed in Salt Lake County Third District Court, reveal investigators believe Deng was “an innocent bystander,” fatally wounded while sitting a car with two friends when the shooting took place.
One of those friends, according to the probable cause statement, was being targeted by Kuajian in an ongoing dispute over a former girlfriend.
Investigators say surveillance video, which captured the shooting, shows an Infiniti pull up to the Lexus Deng and his friends were in when a passenger in the Infiniti “rolled down the window and a long and a black handgun came out.”
Multiple gunshots were fired and Deng was gravely wounded, dying a short while later after being driven by his friends to a nearby hospital.
A news release issued Thursday by the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office said Biel and Kuajian, both alleged to have known gang ties, were in the Infiniti together, and that Kuajian was the driver, while Biel fired the gun.
Both were recently arrested in Omaha, Nebraska, after West Valley City investigators and other local law enforcement sources determined their whereabouts.
“Today, we grieve with all of those affected by this tragic gun violence,” said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill. “This fatal shooting had a devastating effect on the Salt Lake County community. Our hearts are with the family and friends of the victim killed in this shooting and with the surviving victims and their loved ones.
“We appreciate the relentless pursuit of the defendant by the West Valley City Police Department. Their work helped to ensure this office could pursue justice for the family of the victims and our community. All persons accused of wrongdoing are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.”
