An Idaho man pleaded guilty this week to attempted murder and five other felonies for firing nine shots at the Missionary Training Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Provo, Utah.
Dallin William Litster, 27, pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted murder on Wednesday in Fourth District Court in Provo.
The charge initially was filed as a first-degree felony, but Litster agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a reduced charge, according to the statement he filed with the court in support of his plea. A second-degree felony is punishable by 1-15 years in prison.
Provo Police reported that on Aug. 3, 2020, a suspect fired nine bullets toward the MTC, which was not training missionaries at the time because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several of the shots struck a security booth manned by a guard, who jumped to the ground and then fled from the booth. None of the 9mm bullets struck the guard, but he was injured by broken glass.
Several bullets struck the desk where the guard had been sitting, according to charging documents.
Investigators work at the scene of an early morning drive-by shooting at the Missionary Training Center in Provo on Monday, Aug. 3, 2020. Police say someone in a white SUV fired multiple shots at the center’s main security booth at about 2:30 a.m. No one was injured. | ” “
Litster agreed to plead guilty to five counts of discharging a firearm in the direction of a person. Each count is a third-degree felony punishable by zero to five years in prison.
Fourth District Court Judge Denise Porter scheduled Litster’s sentencing for Oct. 7.
Litster agreed to have the six charges sentenced consecutively and concurrent with a 30-month prison sentence he was serving in Idaho after he pleaded guilty to two charges of stalking.
In fact, it was a deputy with the Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office in Idaho who reported to Provo Police that he overheard Litster implicate himself during a prisoner transport in May 2024, according to an affidavit filed by a Provo officer.
The deputy reported that Litster spontaneously said he had shot up the booth during the COVID-19 pandemic but claimed that it was only vandalism because the booth had been empty.
Officers also listened to a jail phone call between Litster and his ex-wife in which he allegedly said, “The thing is the thing I talked to you about in Utah about how I got in trouble down there or I could about the property damage there.” According to court documents, he later stated, “I told you they are trying to frame me for that thing in Utah, they are trying to say it’s something it totally wasn’t, you know.”
Surveillance video showed that the shooter drove a 2007 Subaru Outback that appeared to have an Idaho license plate. Provo Police learned that Litster’s father had owned a Subaru Outback Legacy with Idaho plates at the time, according to court documents.
Utah County prosecutors requested extradition, and Litster was transferred to the Utah County Jail in July.
Surveillance video of the incident can be found here.
Several bullet holes in the windows of the main security booth at the entrance to the Missionary Training Center in Provo are pictured on Monday, Aug. 3, 2020, after a drive-by shooting. Police say someone in a white SUV fired multiple at the center about 2:30 a.m. No one was injured. | ” “