WEST JORDAN, Utah, Dec. 28, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — An 18-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of criminal homicide and four other felony crimes after he and a juvenile associate allegedly shot and killed a member of a rival gang on Christmas Eve in West Jordan.
Suspect Jedediah Zane Newsome faces initial charges of:
- Two counts of felony discharge of a firearm, a first-degree felony
- Criminal homicide, a first-degree felony
- Obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony
- Transaction of a dangerous weapon by a class l restricted person
Victim’s body found
West Jordan police responded to the parking lot of the Gene Fullmer Recreation Center, at 8015 S. 2200 West, at 11:49 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 25, on a welfare check. The shooting had happened approximately 24 hours earlier.
“Upon arriving, officers found a deceased juvenile male victim with multiple gunshot wounds behind a storage container,” says Newsome’s probable cause statement, filed by an officer of the West Jordan Police Department.
The victim has since been identified as 16-year-old Kenneth Gant. A family member has set up a fundraising account, which can be viewed here.
Investigators found three shell casings on scene, and another with the victim at the Medical Examiner’s office, the statement says.
West Valley City car theft
On Monday, Dec. 27, West Jordan police were informed of an incident that happened on Dec. 25 in West Valley City.
“It was reported that during the incident two males, one a juvenile, stole a vehicle from a driveway in West Valley,” Newsome’s probable cause statement says. “It was reported that the owner of the vehicle approached the two suspects while they were still in the driveway, one of the suspects pointed a firearm at the owner, and then drove off.”
WVCPD officers located the vehicle, and the two suspects fled on foot, but were apprehended in the back yard of a nearby residence. It was determined the gun may have been had been discarded after the suspects fled.
The suspects, identified as Newsome, and an unnamed juvenile, were interviewed at the West Valley City Police Department.
The homicide
According to the probable cause statement, Newsome to told police the juvenile had committed a homicide the night before in West Jordan,” Newsome’s probable cause statement says he “gave an approximate address of the homicide and said it was near the West Jordan Police Station and Recreation Center.”
West Jordan Police investigators served a search warrant on the victim, 16-year Kenneth Gant’s phone, and say they found correspondence between him and the juvenile suspect up until 10:42 p.m. Dec. 24. West Jordan Police also had reports of shots fired at 10:55 p.m. coming from the same area where Gant’s body was later found.
On Monday, Dec. 27, West Jordan investigators went to the area in West Valley City where Newsome and the juvenile suspect had been arrested by WVCPD officers.
WJPD officers were alerted to a black backpack that was found by a property owner who alerted police.
“While going through the backpack to attempt to identify the owner, investigators observed a pair of white shoes. The white shoes with dried mud stains on them. The tread on the found shoes appeared to match a shoe print that was located at the original homicide crime scene in West Jordan.”
Surveillance video collected from the Gene Fullmer Recreation Center and reviewed by investigators showed two male suspects in the area where the homicide occurred. One male was wearing white shoes and the other was carrying a black backpack, the probable cause statement said.
Suspect statement
Police say, Newsome, post Miranda, admitted that he contacted Gant through social media to meet up on December 24, 2021. He said Gant was a ‘switch up’ from a rival gang and was trying join the gang Newsome and juvenile suspect belonged to. Newsome said Gant agreed to meet up with him and juvenile to talk and smoke marijuana.
Newsome said he asked Gant why he had not already joined their gang, knowing Gant had previously been refused for belonging to the rival gang, the WJPD officer’s statement says. Newsome said Gant upset him when he did not admit to being in a rival gang.
The probable cause statement says Newsome and the juvenile suspect “walked with the victim across the parking lot under the guise of smoking marijuana with him.” Newsome said they stopped behind the storage container and talked for a moment. He said he heard two gunshots and “the victim scream and cry.” Newsome claimed he then took the gun from juvenile, went up to Gant, “who was on the ground, and shot him two more times.”
Newsome said he and the juvenile suspect “hid out for the night,” but returned to the scene the following day and observed a large police presence. He said “he took photos of the crime scene and police presence at the scene, from a distance, and later deleted them.”
Newsome also told investigators he and the younger suspect deleted phone and social media correspondence with the victim after the homicide, and the juvenile also deleted photos he had taken of Gant after the shooting.
Newsome is currently being held in the Salt Lake County Jail.
The status of the juvenile suspect’s case has not been revealed due to his underage status.
