SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A Utah man has been arrested on suspicion of shooting someone who was trying to slowly drive through protesters blocking traffic in Provo during a rally decrying police brutality.
Jesse K. Taggart, 33, of Salt Lake City, was arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of attempted murder, aggravated assault and other charges, authorities said. The driver of the SUV who was shot happened to be driving to a store when he encountered protesters and is not under investigation for any crime, Provo police Sgt. Nisha King said.
The 60-year-old man from Provo suffered a gunshot wound to his arm and shrapnel in his eye and stomach Monday night. He drove himself to an emergency room.
Taggart declined to talk with officers when he was arrested, a probable cause statement said. He is being held in jail on $41,700 bail. It’s unclear if he has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
He doesn’t appear to be affiliated with any of the groups at the protest, but he was walking with people rallying against police brutality, King said. Protest organizers told authorities they didn’t know Taggart. The rally also included some people showing support for police.
A video taken by KSL-TV shows a man fire a shot at the driver from the passenger side of the car as the man drove his SUV slowly forward with protesters crowded around. The vehicle then accelerated as people dodged out of the way.
King, the police spokeswoman, says some protesters suffered minor injuries, but she doesn’t know how many.
Taggart fired a second shot at the back of the vehicle as it sped away, according to the probable cause statement. In the video, the driver can be seen ducking as he made it through the intersection where protesters were blocking cars.
The shooter’s face was covered by a mask, but police say they identified him through photos and videos taken by witnesses. Police said he later broke the window of another car with his gun.
A woman who police say was with Taggart, Samantha Darling, was arrested on suspicion of obstruction of justice and rioting, authorities said. Darling, 27, of South Ogden, is accused of blocking traffic, damaging vehicles and driving the car Taggart was in, documents say.
She declined to talk to police, a probable cause statement said. She’s being held on $25,010 bail. It’s unclear if she has an attorney who can speak on her behalf.
Neither Taggart nor Darling had been formally charged as of Wednesday.
The night started as another in a string of mostly peaceful protests in Utah decrying the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. But it became tense when pro-police protesters arrived, according to people who were there. People protesting police brutality started to block traffic at intersections, and then the man was shot.
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