SALT LAKE CITY — The man accused of killing a University of Utah student-athlete has a history of committing violent crimes.
Buk Mawut Buk, 22, faces murder charges after Aaron Lowe was shot outside a house party on September 26.
READ: Aaron Lowe’s family reacts to arrest of accused killer
“We have a process. We take violent crime very seriously,” said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill.
Buk was accused of a string of crimes in 2019.
According to court records, he was charged with aggravated robbery after stealing $290. The victim told investigators that Buk and another suspect “pulled out a gun and a knife.”
The aggravated robbery charge was dismissed and Buk pleaded guilty to a less severe charge of robbery.
He was also charged with robbery after stealing $300 from a victim who thought he was meeting Buk to purchase an iPhone.
“Might have had some evidentiary issues with that,” Gill explained. “At that time, a prosecutor did a global resolution, taking all of those cases as two second-degree robberies and convicting him of those.”
Buk was sentenced to a year in the county jail.
After his release, he was arrested in November 2020 and charged with illegally possessing a gun.
According to charging documents, Buk was in a stolen car where a stolen handgun was found. Investigators said he was carrying ammo.
That charge was also dropped and he pleaded guilty to failing to stop at an officer’s command.
He was sentenced to 115 days in jail and released in March 2021.
“There were four individuals, so they could not decide whose gun it was,” Gill explained when describing why the gun charge was dropped. "We couldn't meet our burden of proof."
Now, the focus is on the future and building a case that gets justice for Aaron Lowe.
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“We follow the evidence, and we prosecute and file charges based on evidence we have,” Gill said.
Formal charges against Buk have not yet been filed with the court.
Prosecutors have 72 hours to do so or request an extension from the court.
In our original coverage of Buk M. Buk’s arrest for the murder of Aaron Lowe, we mistakenly aired a booking photo of a different individual with the same name. We regret this error and extend our apologies to the family.
