An 18-year-old Provo man was arrested Tuesday and booked into the Salt Lake County jail after police said he sent a string of Snapchat messages threatening to kill a victim and the victim's family because the victim is transgender and gay. Damyen Vainuku now faces suspicion of aggravated assault, prohibited dangerous weapon conduct, and threat of violence, and police say his alleged conduct meets the criteria for a hate crime penalty enhancement.
According to ABC4 Utah, police received a report on August 20 that Vainuku had sent threats to shoot and kill the victim, along with a picture of a gun, and that he continued threatening the victim over Snapchat afterward. Vainuku has not been formally charged, and he told investigators that someone else sent him the photo of the firearm and that he himself was being threatened by another person, the station reports.
A SafeUT Tip Triggers a Multi-Agency Response
The victim reported the threats to high school staff using the SafeUT reporting system, according to the same account. SafeUT, established by Utah state legislation in 2015 and operated 24/7 by the Huntsman Mental Health Institute at the University of Utah, lets students submit confidential tips about threats and violence directly to crisis staff and school administrators. In fiscal year 2024, SafeUT counselors managed tens of thousands of student tips and initiated 499 emergency interventions statewide, and statewide protocol requires counselors who receive reports of imminent violence to immediately triage that information to local police and school officials.
High school staff informed the Salt Lake City and West Valley City police departments, per ABC4's report. Detectives then used tracking technologies to monitor Vainuku's movements, working to ensure he was not going near the victim as the investigation continued.
Tracked to a FrontRunner Stop, Then Arrested
Police saw Vainuku moving toward the Salt Lake County area, and officers found him getting off a FrontRunner train before taking him into custody on August 25. Utah Transit Authority's FrontRunner commuter rail system runs 83 miles across 16 stations, connecting Weber, Davis, Salt Lake, and Utah counties with stops in Provo and Salt Lake City, carrying more than 14,000 weekday passengers along the corridor, according to the Utah Transit Authority.
Police also sought a search warrant for Vainuku's person and residence in Provo, but did not find a gun or any other weapons on him or in his home, the outlet's report notes. Vainuku reportedly admitted to sending many threats to many individuals while using pictures of the gun, and separately allegedly told the victim that his gang membership would make the threat more credible.
Gang Unit Ties and a Prior Burglary Conviction
The Salt Lake City Gang Unit had been investigating Vainuku for illegally possessing a semi-automatic handgun, and he allegedly admitted to being an active member of a street gang, per the same account. The department's Gang Unit and Violent Criminal Apprehension Team regularly monitor active street gang members and violent offenders in Salt Lake County, according to the Salt Lake City Police Department. Vainuku was already on probation after being convicted of burglary as a juvenile.
He is being held without bail. Aggravated assault and prohibited dangerous weapon conduct are both third-degree felonies in Utah, each carrying up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, while threat of violence as a Class A misdemeanor carries up to 364 days in jail, per the state's criminal code. Under Utah's hate crime statute, enacted through Senate Bill 103 in 2019, prosecutors cannot file a standalone hate crime charge; instead, a court can only elevate an underlying conviction by one penalty degree once a defendant is convicted of the underlying offense. Whether Salt Lake County prosecutors will formally seek that enhancement against Vainuku remains an open question until charging documents are filed.
Part of a Wider Statewide Pattern
The case adds to a documented rise in bias-motivated incidents across Utah. U.S. Department of Justice hate crime data shows reported bias incidents based on sexual orientation climbed from 36 in 2022 to 87 in 2023, while incidents targeting gender identity rose from 5 to 13 over the same period, with total reported hate crimes in the state reaching 193 in 2023, up from 113 the year before. Nationally, the FBI's 2024 Uniform Crime Reporting data shows intimidation and simple assault remain among the most common offense types in bias-motivated cases, with agencies submitting reports for 11,679 hate crime incidents involving 13,683 distinct offenses that year.
Even so, Utah's overall violent crime rate remains comparatively low. USAFacts, drawing on FBI statistics, found Utah's violent crime rate stood at 229.6 per 100,000 residents in 2024, roughly 36.1 percent below the national average. A peer-reviewed study of SafeUT user survey data published through PubMed Central found that more than half of surveyed youth users of the app identified as LGBTQ+, underscoring why the platform has become a critical reporting tool for students who may hesitate to talk to parents about threats they face.
Hoodline has tracked Salt Lake hate-crime pushes before, as community members have pressed law enforcement to pursue penalty enhancements in other local harassment cases this year.
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