Two men have been charged with shooting and killing a 21-year-old man they mistakenly believed was a rival gang member three years ago, when the suspects were still teenagers, prosecutors say.
According to court documents, on Oct. 18, 2020, Nogolweit Kug, and Awad Moses Majok saw Manuel Felipe Gonzalez-Cortez walking along 3900 South at 635 West in Millcreek and mistook him for the other person. They tried to rob him, but Gonzalez-Cortez resisted and began wrestling with Majok — who prosecutors say fired his gun and missed.
Kug, who was 16 at the time, then fired his gun twice at Gonzalez-Cortez. The first shot also missed, but the second was fatal, striking him in the torso, prosecutors say.
Kug has been charged as an adult in 3rd District Court with murder and aggravated robbery, first-degree felonies; and two counts of illegal discharge of a weapon, third-degree felonies.
Majok, who was 19 at the time of the killing, has also been charged with murder and aggravated robbery, as well as one count of illegal discharge of a weapon.
Prosecutors cited police interviews as evidence in the charging documents filed Wednesday, as well as a DNA analysis of swabs from inside the pocket of the victim’s hoodie, completed in September. Some of samples matched Majok’s DNA profile, they wrote.
Both Kug and Majok are being held without bail in the Salt Lake County jail. They scheduled to make their first appearance in court on Friday.
“We appreciate the hard work of the Unified Police Department and our prosecutors who continued to work on this case so we could file charges,” Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill in a statement.
