A Kanab man was charged with murder in 3rd District Court on Friday in connection with the deadly shooting of a woman outside a nightclub.
Dustin Pedersen, 37, is accused of fatally shooting 29-year-old Nichole Olsen after an argument outside a Salt Lake City club in November.
At about 2 a.m. on Nov. 20, Salt Lake City Police dispatch received a 911 call about a shooting in the area of 300 South and West Temple. After she was shot, Olsen’s friends transported her to a hospital, but she died of her injuries.
A witness told police that while she was at a club that night, her group, which included Olsen, got into an “altercation” with two other men, according to a charging document.
Security at the club asked the two men to leave, the witness said. Olsen’s group remained in the club for a while longer, then decided to attend an after-party close by.
The two groups again encountered each other at the other location, however, and another fight broke out. The witness said she saw Pedersen frequently reaching into his waistband and lifting up his shirt.
According to the witness, she and Olsen were standing together when she heard a single gunshot. Then Olsen told the witness she had been shot.
Pedersen and another man then got into a BMW and drove off, the witness said. Before the BMW left the parking lot, another witness used a cellphone to film it driving away.
When homicide detectives reviewed the cellphone footage, they saw that the BMW had a car dealership license plate. Detectives traced the sale of that car and learned that it had been sold to a man named Dustin Pedersen.
The next day, Pedersen turned himself in to the Kane County Sheriff’s Office. He told a deputy there that he’d shot a round to scare people who were fighting, and a woman was hit by the bullet.
Salt Lake City Police found a handgun in the back of the BMW Pedersen had been driving.
The medical examiner determined the manner of Olsen’s death to be a homicide, caused by a gunshot wound to the chest.
“Our hearts are truly saddened by this sudden and unexpected loss of Nikki,” a GoFundMe campaign organized for Olsen’s family states. The campaign, which spells Olsen’s first name as Nicole, had raised more than $21,000 as of Sunday morning.
Police said Sunday they didn’t have any new information to provide as far as a motive for the shooting or which nightclub it happened at.
This was the 14th homicide in Salt Lake City so far this year.
