Man who killed former Utah football player Aaron Lowe sentenced to at least 18 years in prison

The man who killed former Utah football player Aaron Lowe in 2021 was sentenced to at least 18 years in prison on Monday, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

Buk Mawut Buk, 25, was sentenced to at least 18 years in prison with the possibility of a life sentence for first-degree felony murder and first-degree attempted felony murder after the 2021 shooting. Buk killed Lowe at a house party in the Salt Lake City area and injured another woman after a fight broke out.

Buk pleaded guilty to both felony charges in March in a plea deal that took the death penalty off the table, per the report. The other woman who was shot, Fuamoli Pomale, survived after initially being in critical condition. She was shot multiple times in her chest and neck.

Buk was already on probation for two robberies he was convicted of in 2019 at the time of his arrest, adding to a string of crimes he had been charged with since at least 2017, per The Salt Lake Tribune.

Lowe was a sophomore cornerback who played primarily on special teams for the Utes. He was 21 when he was killed.

Utah retired the No. 22 later that year to honor Lowe and teammate Ty Jordan, who died of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound nine months before Lowe. The two were high school friends and teammates from Mesquite, Texas. Jordan, a running back, was the Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year during the 2020 campaign.

Utah set up the Ty Jordan Memorial Scholarship to honor Jordan after his death, too, and awarded it to Lowe in 2021. Lowe then switched his jersey number from 2 to 22 to honor his friend.

The two were buried next to each other in Mesquite, and Utah added a separate Aaron Lowe Memorial Scholarship to pair with Jordan’s.