It takes me one word, one phone call just to get a guy killed
On Halloween night in West Valley City, two seventeen-year-olds were shot outside a party, and what appeared at first to be senseless violence has since revealed itself as something more calculated — a killing allegedly arranged by phone call, by a nineteen-year-old who believed his word alone could end lives. Yonis Muktar was arrested nearly three weeks later, charged with conspiracy to commit murder, his own Instagram video offering investigators a window into the kind of casual certainty that makes violence feel ordinary to those who traffic in it. Two young people are gone — one immediately, one after days of suffering — and the investigation continues, a reminder that behind every act of organized violence lies a network still waiting to be fully seen.
- Two teenagers were shot outside a Halloween party in West Valley City on October 31st — one died at the scene, the other clung to life for days before succumbing to her wounds.
- Police quickly determined this was no stray bullet: the shootings were allegedly orchestrated through phone calls by someone who understood exactly what he was setting in motion.
- A self-incriminating Instagram video posted hours after the killings captured the suspect boasting about his ability to arrange deaths with a single phone call, handing investigators a critical piece of evidence.
- During a second police interview, the suspect allegedly admitted he had called associates knowing the outcome would be two deaths — and made the call anyway.
- Authorities have classified the case as gang-related and describe the investigation as active, signaling that more arrests and charges are likely as the full network comes into focus.
On Halloween night, two seventeen-year-olds were shot outside a party near 2600 West and 4000 South in West Valley City. Javen Ryan "Bug" Welcher died at the scene. A girl standing beside him was critically wounded and died in a hospital in the days that followed, her name withheld from public record. This was not a random act — police came to understand it as a killing arranged by phone call.
Nearly three weeks later, nineteen-year-old Yonis A. Muktar was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. Investigators had followed digital evidence back to an Instagram video posted just after 1 a.m. on November first, hours after the shootings. In it, Muktar spoke with unsettling ease: "It takes me one word, one phone call just to get a guy killed."
When questioned by detectives, Muktar was interviewed twice. In the second session, he allegedly acknowledged calling an associate for help that night — and admitted he understood that doing so would result in two deaths. He made the call anyway. His alleged role was not as the shooter, but as the architect.
Police have classified the case as gang-related, and the investigation remains active — language that signals more arrests may follow and more of this network may yet be exposed. Two teenagers are dead. A nineteen-year-old sits in jail. And detectives continue working to understand how a phone call on Halloween night became a double homicide.
On Halloween night, two seventeen-year-olds were shot outside a home hosting a party in West Valley City, near 2600 West and 4000 South. One boy, Javen Ryan "Bug" Welcher, died at the scene. A girl standing beside him was struck as well, critically wounded. She would die days later in a hospital bed, her name withheld from public record. The shooting was not random. It was not a stray bullet from a passing car. Police would come to understand it as something more deliberate—a killing arranged by phone call, orchestrated by someone who believed himself powerful enough to order death with a word.
On Wednesday, nearly three weeks after the Halloween party, a nineteen-year-old named Yonis A. Muktar was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail. The charge was conspiracy to commit murder. Detectives had been working backward from the crime scene, following threads of evidence and digital breadcrumbs. What they found was a video posted to Instagram just after one in the morning on November first—hours after the shootings. In the video, Muktar could be heard speaking with casual certainty about his own reach. "It takes me one word, one phone call just to get a guy killed," he said into the camera, the words preserved in digital amber.
When police brought Muktar in for questioning, he was interviewed twice. During the first conversation, he offered limited information. But in the second interview, something shifted. According to the police affidavit, Muktar acknowledged that he had called someone—a driver, someone he knew—specifically asking for help. He understood what that call would mean. He knew, the affidavit states, that by reaching out to his associates for assistance, the result would be the deaths of two people. He made the call anyway.
The investigation remains active. Police have classified the case as gang-related, a designation that carries weight in how the crime is understood and how the investigation will proceed. The term suggests a structure, a network, a world in which violence follows certain rules and hierarchies. Muktar's alleged role in that world was not as the shooter but as the architect—the person who made the phone call, who knew the consequences, who spoke afterward with the confidence of someone accustomed to being obeyed.
Two teenagers are dead. One died immediately, his body cooling on the pavement outside a Halloween party. The other survived the initial shooting only to die from her injuries in the days that followed, her name never released to the public, her identity preserved in the privacy of grief. Muktar sits in the Salt Lake County Jail, booked on a conspiracy charge, while detectives continue their work. The case is far from closed. The investigation is described as active, a phrase that in police language means more arrests may come, more charges may follow, more pieces of this network may be exposed. For now, the focus remains on understanding how a phone call made on Halloween night became a double killing, and how a nineteen-year-old came to believe he had the power to order such a thing.
Notable Quotes
Muktar stated that he called the driver for help specifically, knowing that by contacting his friends for assistance it would result in the death of two individuals— Police booking affidavit, describing Muktar's second interview
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why would someone post a video bragging about this right after it happened? That seems almost reckless.
It does, but that's often how these networks operate. There's a performance aspect to it—you're not just powerful if you can make things happen, you're powerful if people know you can make things happen. The video is part of the claim itself.
So he's confessing, essentially, by bragging?
Not confessing in the legal sense, but yes—he's documenting his own role. He's saying out loud what he believes he did. That's what gave detectives the thread to pull.
The affidavit says he knew the call would result in deaths. How certain can police be of that?
They're basing it on what he told them in the second interview. He acknowledged calling someone for help and knowing the outcome. Whether that holds up in court is another question, but it's what he apparently said.
Two seventeen-year-olds. One died right there. The other took days.
Yes. And her name was never released. That's a choice—to protect the family, probably, or to honor some privacy in the aftermath. But it also means we know one victim's name and not the other's. That asymmetry matters.
What happens next?
The investigation is still active. That language usually means more arrests are coming. This wasn't just Muktar pulling a trigger. There's a driver, possibly others. The network is still being mapped.