‘We left him dead’: Utah teen’s rap lyrics are about his killing, police say

SALT LAKE CITY (KSL.com) — “I got murder on my mind. … We left him dead right on that curb n left his momma traumatized.”

Those lyrics to a rap song apparently written by a 16-year-old boy are a direct reference to a fatal drive-by shooting the teen and others committed on June 6 in Salt Lake City, according to charging documents.

On Friday, Salt Lake police announced that the boy was the third person to be connected to the shooting death of 21-year-old Sean Amone.

The boy was charged on March 11 in 3rd District Juvenile Court with murder and six counts of shooting a firearm causing serious injury, first-degree felonies; obstructing justice, a second-degree felony; and eight counts of discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony.

KSL.com has chosen not to name the boy at this time.

On June 6 about 1:40 a.m., Amone was shot twice in the head and killed at 1354 N. General Drive. Four other men, all 19 or 20, were also shot and injured in the drive-by shooting. Originally it was reported that the group was shot while attending a graduation party, but family members say the victims were at the home to escape a violent confrontation that had happened earlier in the evening at Trolley Square where a graduation event was happening.

Another teen, a 15-year-old boy, is also charged in juvenile court with murder in the case. That boy told police that he had been involved in a fistfight earlier at Trolley Square where a graduation dance was being held, according to court documents. Outside Trolley Square, where the confrontation continued, shots were exchanged and one of the 15-year-old’s friends was shot in the leg.

After taking his friend to a local hospital, police say the 15-year-old met with another group and stated, “Any Polynesians from Rose Park are getting smoked.”

The 16-year-old boy was in the passenger seat of the vehicle during the drive-by shooting, according to recently filed charging documents. Another person who was involved in the shooting told investigators that after their Dodge Avenger drove by the victims who were standing in a driveway on General Drive, the group turned their car around, turned off their headlights and turned up the music in their car.

That witness told police that as the car drove by the victims again, the 16-year-old fired an AR-15 at the group and “emptied the magazine of the rifle,” the charges state.

After the 16-year-old was arrested, detectives served a search warrant on his phone. In the “notes” app on his phone, police found a collection of rap lyrics. One set of lyrics was written on June 12, six days after the killing.

“These lyrics contain details consistent with the homicide of (Amone), in particular (his) body was found on the curb,” investigators wrote in the charges.

The teen had also conducted web searches on his phone for “Salt Lake City shooting 1 dead 4 injured” after the incident, according to the charges.

Other evidence collected from the phone includes photos and videos taken shortly before the shooting, some of the photos showing the teen posing with various firearms, the charges say, including the AR-15 believed to have been used in the drive-by shooting.

In one video, believed to have been recorded several hours after the shooting, the teen and several people “are posing together in a group making gang signs. (The 16-year-old) can be heard saying, ‘We dropped five, while displaying an upward five,'” according to the charging documents.

Prosecutors believe that statement was in reference to the number of people shot on June 6, and “upward five” is a reference to a gang sign associated with his group.

The 16-year-old boy has already had 10 cases referred to juvenile court that include a total of 10 felony crimes and five misdemeanors or infractions. Many of those criminal charges were for burglary, theft, and receiving stolen property, according to court records.

In February, prosecutors charged a third person in connection with the June 6 incident. Felix “Fat” Issara, 19, of Salt Lake City, is charged with obstructing justice, a second-degree felony. Issara is accused of being the driver of the Avenger during the drive-by shooting. Investigators believe he is also the one who hid the rifle that was recovered in a bedroom closet in Magna.