BLM protester who shot driver in Provo, Utah arrested, will be charged with attempted murder

Two people have been arrested in connection with the shooting which took place at a Black Lives Matter protest in Provo, Utah on Monday night. The suspected shooter, 33-year-old Jesse Taggart, has been arrested and will be charged with attempted murder. A 27-year-old woman has also been arrested.

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Taggart, of Salt Lake City, was booked into the Utah County Jail and held on charges of attempted aggravated murder, aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury, rioting, threatening the use of a weapon during a fight, criminal mischief, and firing a weapon near a highway, according to Provo Police…

Another person, 27-year-old Samantha Darling, of Ogden, was booked into Utah County Jail on Tuesday night on charges of obstruction of justice and rioting.

There were dueling rallies in Provo, Utah on Monday night. A pro-police rally in which people drove their cars around the police station and honked horns in support of cops and a counter-rally held by BLM supporters. That may explain why the BLM supporters decided to block streets and harass drivers.

In the midst of this, a 60-year-old man who police say wasn’t part of either protest tried to get away from the chaos by moving into a turning lane. His SUV was swarmed by protesters. He continued to push through the crowd and a man wearing a mask pulled out a gun, aimed and shot him through the passenger window of his truck. The injured driver accelerated and the shooter ran after him, firing another shot which hit a window but missed the driver. The driver was able to take himself to a nearby hospital and is listed in stable condition.

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After the shooting, the suspect concealed his weapon and continued to protest. As I pointed out yesterday, a bystander who filmed some of the BLM protest said the shooter had been with the protest from start to finish and appeared to be friendly with the other protesters. He’s the one wearing shorts:

It’s not clear what connection Sam Darling had to Taggart or the case, but based on the obstruction charge it sounds like she lied to the police during their investigation. She’s also charged with rioting so I guess that means she was there. Here’s her booking photo.

There could still be additional arrests stemming from the incident. Deseret News reports: “Police also confirmed Tuesday they were still looking for a second gunman who is believed to have brandished his weapon and pointed it at the driver but did not fire.”

Both Taggart and Darling have Facebook pages. A page which belongs to Jesse K Taggart specifically mentions the shooting in Provo a couple of times.

This one from a few days ago is pretty ironic, “see how peaceful we are.”

I scrolled through his Facebook page and BLM is the only thing he has posted about for the past month. Sam Darling’s Facebook page also seems to indicate she was at the protest Monday night:

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So far the name of the victim in this case hasn’t been released and I don’t see any detailed description of his injuries, but he is apparently still in the hospital.

One other update on this. The girl with bright pink/orange hair is identified in this story as Elly Swedberg. There’s a photo of her sitting at a table filing a police report, apparently about being hit by a car. It’s not clear if she’s claiming she was hit by the white SUV or if that’s a reference to another incident which was caught on video. I wonder if her report matches with what happened in this clip?

I’ll update this post if anyone else is arrested today.

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David Strom 4:40 PM | October 07, 2024
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