Clothing
Mayor: City 'traumatized' by shooting spree
Mayor: City 'traumatized' by shooting spree
Another five people were wounded in the 7 p.m. attack at Trolley Square before police killed the gunman.
Sgt. Blaine Clifford of the Ogden Police Department confirmed that one of the city's patrol division officers was involved in the shooting. The off-duty officer happened to be in the mall at the time, Clifford said.
He declined to name the officer or disclose the extent of his involvement in the shooting. However, Clifford said, the Ogden officer was "not just a witness."
"As far as who did what to whom, I don't know.
" The Ogden officer was uninjured, Clifford said. Two shooting victims were taken to University Hospital. Both suffered gunshot wounds and were in critical condition, according to Chris Nelson, hospital spokesman.
One, a 50-year-old male, was being operated on. The other, a 16-year-old male, was being evaluated in radiology. The emergency room was in lockdown, with security guards allowing only medical personnel, family members of the victims and new patients inside.
They don't expect any more patients tonight, Nelson said.
Regional Medical Center and LDS Hospital, Nelson said. Police radio reports said two victims had been taken to LDS Hospital at 8:30 p.
m. At a press conference around 8:25 p.m.
, police shed a little light on what happened at the mall, starting with an optimistic note regarding the suspected gunman: "He is no longer a threat," said Robin Snyder, public information officer with the Salt Lake City Police Department. Beyond that, details were sketchy. Snyder said police didn't know who the suspect was or what his motive was.
She said it appeared to be a random shooting not directed at anyone in particular, and the gunman ranged through a large part of the mall. By 9 p.m.
, the entire mall had been declared a crime scene, and police were still receiving calls for help from inside the mall. "We've got a lot of scared people still inside," Snyder said. Clifton Black, 26, and Melinda Gurr, 21, of Salt Lake City, heard the shots as they hunkered down in the back of the Black Chandelier, a clothing store in the Trolley Square mall.
A clerk turned off the lights of the store and locked the front doors. The clerk, Black and Gurr then hid until the gunfire stopped. The group then ventured to the front window, where they caught the eye of a sheriff's deputy who was carrying a shotgun.
The officer shouted, "Two civilians," and told them to walk to the exits with their hands over their heads, Black said. On their way out of the mall, they saw a "heap of bodies" in one of the stores, Black said. The injured people were being treated by paramedics, he said.
They saw at least one other man on the ground while leaving the mall, he said.
Keywords: Police Department, Trolley Square, Lake City, Salt Lake, Salt Lake City, Lds Hospital