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Jan. 8 (UPI) — Salt Lake City police are searching early Thursday for suspects after two people were killed and six others wounded in a shooting outside a church where a funeral was taking place Wednesday evening.

No suspects are in custody, and authorities said they are following leads and won’t stop until those responsible have been apprehended.

“Our officers are working hard, and we will work until we bring these individuals to justice,” Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd told reporters during a press conference.

“We are confident we will bring these individuals to justice.”

Authorities said that the shooting occurred outside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints following an altercation in the parking lot on Redwood Road.

Police are investigating if there were more than one shooter involved, and Redd said they do not believe that the shooting targeted the church.

“It’s probably too early to say it’s gang related, but yes, our gang detectives are here and we are definitely looking at that angle,” he said.

Of the wounded, three were in critical condition, according to a Salt Lake City Police Department statement on X.

Dozens of people were attending the funeral when the shots rang out, and they are currently being interviewed, Redd said.

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said the shooting should never have happened.

“This should never have happened at a place of worship. It should not have happened at a celebration of life that was occurring inside of the church tonight,” she said.

“Our condolences continue to grow and we know that this impacts not only those victims and their families, the community that was at the church, but the entire community here in Salt Lake City on the West Side.

A spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said in a statement to local media that they were aware of the shooting and were cooperating with law enforcement.

According to The Gun Violence Archive, which tallies gun violence in the United States, the incident was the 9th mass shooting to take place in the country so far this year.

There were 406 mass shootings, which involved four or more victims, for all of 2025.

As manhunt is under way, police do not believe attack was random but neither was it likely to be attack on religion.

Two people have been killed and several injured in a shooting in the car park of a Mormon church in the Utah capital of Salt Lake City in the United States.

Police said the shooting occurred on Wednesday in the car park of a meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where dozens of people were attending a funeral.

Three of the six injured victims are in critical condition.

Police confirmed that no suspect was in custody and have launched a manhunt, with the FBI reportedly offering assistance.

While police said they did not believe the shooting was random, Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd told The Associated Press news agency it did not appear to be a targeted attack against a religion.

Church spokesman Glen Mills told reporters there had been signs of a fracas outside the church, where the funeral was taking place.

“Out in the parking lot, there was some sort of altercation took [place] and that’s when shots were fired,” he said.

About 100 law enforcement vehicles were at the scene in the aftermath, with helicopters flying overhead.

“As soon as I came over, I see someone on the ground… People are attending to him and crying and arguing,” said Brennan McIntire, a local man who spoke to AP.

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said, “This should never have happened outside a place of worship. This should never have happened outside a celebration of life.”

The church, which has headquarters in Salt Lake City, is cooperating with law enforcement.

About half of Utah’s 3.5 million residents are members of the faith. Churches like the one where the shooting occurred can be found in towns throughout the city and state.

The faith has been on heightened alert since four people were killed when a former Marine opened fire in a Michigan church last month and set it ablaze.

The FBI found that he was motivated by “anti-religious beliefs” against the church.

About 82 percent of mass killings in the US in 2025 involved a firearm, according to a database maintained by AP alongside USA Today and Northeastern University.

The shooting in Salt Lake City occurred amid growing unrest in the US, after a federal officer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis amid ongoing protests against an immigration crackdown.