John Herman Tonga, 34, male, was shot to death on the morning of June 5, 2019, outside a home in Kearns, a suburb of Salt Lake City. Police were called around 7:30 a.m. to a house near 4800 South and 4720 West, where officers found Tonga collapsed in the front yard and another wounded man departing the scene. The investigation quickly focused on a violent encounter inside the residence that spilled outside; a medical examiner later determined Tonga died from a gunshot wound to the chest and had
additional gunshot injuries.
According to charging documents and witness statements, a group arrived at the home that morning intending to rob a man known to them as Julio. While two members of the group confronted Julio at gunpoint inside, others—including Tonga—entered the room with firearms and shots were exchanged. Witnesses described people fleeing out the front door after the gunfire, with Tonga staggering out and collapsing on the lawn. In the minutes that followed, a gunshot victim from the same incident turned up at a nearby clinic and was transferred to a hospital for treatment.
Detectives identified multiple suspects and made a series of arrests. Days after the shooting, Lewellyn Auvaa and Joleen Warner were taken into custody; Warner was located at a motel where officers reported finding a pistol and suspected methamphetamine. Paul Tuese Ama, who had sustained gunshot wounds to his hand and thigh, was booked after being released from the hospital. Prosecutors subsequently charged Auvaa, Ama, and Warner with first-degree murder, felony discharge of a firearm, aggravated burglary, and aggravated robbery; Ama also faced a count for possession or use of a firearm by a restricted person. Months later, investigators announced a fourth arrest: Zachary Rock Ama, described as providing new details about the robbery-turned-shooting.
Authorities publicly characterized the episode as a robbery that escalated into fatal gunfire, with early appeals for information giving way to a clearer picture as suspects were identified. Throughout June 2019, police and prosecutors outlined the sequence of events that led to Tonga's death, the recovery of a wounded suspect, and the filing of murder and related felony charges connected to what investigators described as a planned holdup that ended in tragedy.
