2 charged with murder in shooting death in Salt Lake City parking lot

Two men accused in the shooting death of a man in a warehouse parking lot where a party was being held have been charged with murder.

Two men accused in the shooting death of a man in a warehouse parking lot where a party was being held have been charged with murder. (lusia83, Shutterstock)


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

SALT LAKE CITY — Two men accused of gunning down a 30-year-old man in a parking lot are now facing murder charges.

Nay Blu Soe, 21, of Magna, and Abdihakim Abdullahi Mohamed, 19, of Salt Lake City, were each charged Friday in 3rd District Court with murder and 13 counts of shooting at a person causing serious injury, first-degree felonies; and obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony.

On May 26, Salt Lake City police were called to 1810 W. Fortune Road to investigate a shooting "at a warehouse after party," according to charging documents. They arrived to find Nico Christopher Patino, 30, lying on the ground in the parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds.

Witnesses told police "Nico had exited the warehouse (with a woman) and (they) were standing in the parking lot when a silver Chrysler pulled up in front of them. Nico exchanged words with the driver, who grabbed something from his waist with his right hand and started shooting at Nico," charges state.

Detectives reviewing surveillance video first observed the car in the area a few hours before the shooting, and watched as Mohamed and Soe got out of the vehicle, but "they remained in the parking lot but never entered the warehouse," the charges state.

As soon as Patino exited the warehouse, he was approached by Mohamed and another man, who wore all black except a white face mask, according to the charges.

"The Chrysler pulled up in front of Nico, who turned towards the driver's door. Seconds later, the video captured the sound of gunshots, and Nico fell to the ground. By this time, Mohamed and the male in black had approached within feet of (the woman) and Nico, and both shot at Nico. Mohamed and the male ran to and entered the Chrysler, which immediately drove away," the charges state.

Another witness at the party was approached by two men, both armed, who said "they were 'trying to hit a lick,'" according to the charges.

An autopsy found Patino was shot seven times in the back and eight times in the front, the charges state. Mohamed was arrested in June. Soe was recently arrested at the Salt Lake City International Airport after he returned from a trip to Detroit.

"The investigation is ongoing with additional suspects outstanding," prosecutors noted in the charging documents.

Related stories

Most recent Police & Courts stories

Related topics

Police & CourtsUtahSalt Lake County
Pat Reavy interned with KSL NewsRadio in 1989 and has been a full-time journalist for either KSL NewsRadio, Deseret News or KSL.com since 1991. For the past 25 years, he has worked primarily the cops and courts beat.
KSL.com Beyond Business
KSL.com Beyond Series

KSL Weather Forecast

KSL Weather Forecast
Play button