Trevor Myers
02-02-2025
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A man was arrested for manslaughter after allegedly smoking marijuana with a friend and shooting him after the friend said he could “dodge a bullet,” according to arrest documents.
Ashton Jonathan Mann, 23, was arrested just after 4 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 2, on one count of second-degree felony manslaughter and one third-degree felony charge related to firearms.
According to an affidavit of probable cause filed in Salt Lake County, officials with Unified Police responded to a home in Kearns, Utah, after receiving reports that a man was shot in the chest. Officials found the victim unresponsive on the floor and took him to a local hospital, where he later died.
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In an interview with detectives, after he was read his Miranda rights, Mann reportedly told officials he and his friend had smoked marijuana around 8 p.m., and were talking about guns in the kitchen.
Mann and his friend later went into the detached garage to continue their conversation. They were reportedly handling two different handguns when the victim “said he can dodge a bullet,” documents said.
Mann told officials he and his friend unloaded each gun before he pointed a firearm at the victim and pulled the trigger, with his friend trying to “jump out of the way to prove he could move before the trigger was pulled.” Mann told officials they repeated that about six times.
“[Mann] said the final time the gun fired striking [the victim] in the chest,” arrest documents said.
Mann said the victim asked him to call 911 because he had been shot. Mann reportedly rendered aid to his friend until first responders arrived at the scene.
After obtaining a search warrant for the residence, officials found two handguns, as well as ammunition and magazines. Officials also found “drug paraphernalia consistent with marijuana use.”
Mann was taken into custody on the aforementioned charges.
Charges are allegations only. All arrested persons are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
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