2-12-07 SLC Trolley Square massacre
At about 6:43pm last Monday, February 12th, an 18yr old Bosnian refugee named Sulejman Talovic shot and killed five people and wounded four more at the Trolley Square shopping center near downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.
He began his rampage after getting out of his car in the west parking lot of the mall. Armed with a pump-action shotgun, a .38cal pistol, and a small backpack filled with extra ammo, a bandolier full of shotgun shells around his waist. He shot and killed 52-year-old Jeffery Walker in the parking terrace. Walker's son AJ, 16, was wounded and remains hospitalized in serious condition. On his way into the west doors, he shot Shawn Munns, 34, in the courtyard, wounding him. Munns is hospitalized in serious condition. Near the Bath and Body Works store, Talovic shot and killed Vanessa Quinn, 29.
Witnesses said he charged down the hallway and, with a calm expression on his face, opened fire on shoppers in the Cabin Fever novelty and card shop. Inside the store, Brad Frantz, 24, Teresa Ellis, 29, and Kirsten Hinckley, 15, were killed. Hinckley's mother, 44-year-old Carolyn Tuft, was wounded and remains in critical condition. Stacy Hanson, 53, was also shot inside the mall. An off-duty Ogden police officer heard the shots and returned fire with the handgun he was carrying. He was soon joined by four more Salt Lake City cops, who quickly cornered the gunman and shot him to death when he refused to put the gun down. It was over in seven minutes from start to finish.
The gunman was wearing a light colored shirt, dark pants and a tan trench coat. References to Columbine soon surfaced: four hours later police described the event as "Columbine-like." Later reports from the kid's neighbors said he always wore all black. And there were a lot of other things which put this one, once again, in "Columbine-client" territory.
First, and most important, were the early reports of a second shooter:
From Drudge: KPIX in San Francisco: 'First reports coming in say two shooters are involved'
www.sltrib.com/ci_5214340
After police had shot dead the suspected shooter, police warned of a second shooter on the second floor of the mall.
ksl.com talk radio(from late on the twelth):
"They(witnesses) claimed they saw more than one person wearing trenchcoats."
And long after the shooter was shot to death, police were kicking down doors and probing ceiling tiles in an effort to find another shooter.
deseretnews.com/dn/view/0...49,00.html
As of 7:15 p.m., police believed a shooter might still be loose in the mall.
www.sltrib.com/ci_5214340
After police had shot dead the suspected shooter, police warned of a second shooter on the second floor of the mall.
And witnesses IDed one of the gunmen as wearing a "dark" trenchcoat, not the tan trenchcoat reported.
www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5215063
Ron Mason and DeEta Barta: they saw a man coming in from the west parking lot. The man, wearing a dark trench coat.... A woman on the lower level of the mall, near the Black Chandelier store, said she saw a shot and looked up upstairs and saw the gunman. He had a long dark coat. ....
kutv.com/topstories/local_story_043212315.html
Witnesses say he gunman appeared to be.... wearing a dark trench coat...
Well, I guess it could have been a dark tan trenchcoat, but that would be more aptly described as 'brown,' and no one used that description.
Another problem is that one witness says the perp was on scene at the mall 'several' hours earlier, yet his boss says he was at work until 5pm. After Talovic left his job at the Aramark Uniform company he was seen by his father showering at home afterwards. So if this witness is describing the shooter he saw later it could not have been Talovic.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5215006Jeremy Jensen, 26, of Salt Lake City, at Desert Edge, said he saw the shooter several hours earlier, walking through the brewery. He remembered his long, tan trenchcoat and that he had a mullet midway down his back. Jensen said he saw the man later enter the mall from the parking deck, carrying a shotgun.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5218341Desert Edge employee Jeremy Jensen looked down from the second floor and spotted the gunman - a man he recognized as a brew pub customer from earlier that afternoon.
And some witness descriptions did not fit Talovic, who was 18 and described as 'lanky:'
Television station KTVX reported that a witness said they saw a short, stocky man in a bulky coat walking into the Trolley Square mall carrying a shotgun.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5216396(An employee at Bath and Body Works, Marie)Smith - who looked the shooter in the eye - described him as in his late 20s or early 30s...
Anyway police are now saying confusion about a second gunman was just the cop who was in the mall and pulled his own gun:
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5216389 on 2-14
"Rumors of a second shooter spread initially but within less than an hour, police determined there was just one gunman. Witnesses may have initially thought the off-duty officer, who with gun drawn was in pursuit of the killer, was also a gunman, (police spokesperson)Snyder said."
There were also the usual strange changes in mood during the shooting:
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=888784Another woman says she saw a man with short hair, wearing a coat and carrying a shotgun. She says he looked anxious as he wandered around with the gun.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660195184,00.html"His expression seemed totally calm," (an eyewitness named) Smith said. Others said that outside the mall, the gunman looked angry.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5218341--Witnesses who saw the gunman described him as calm and silent throughout the rampage.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660195317,00.htmlMunns..... He heard his attacker say "Die, (expletive)."
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5238962--The look on his face ''was a spirit of murder. It was like a spirit was on him''
--"He wasn't yelling but he was determined to kill and I could see it all over his face,"
--Talovic as appearing "almost like a robot."
--"He looked proud, arrogant."
--"He was strolling with an arrogant look on his face like he was king of the hill," he said. "He was enjoying himself. He really was."
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660196435,00.htmlWhen those three officers told Talovic that they were behind him and that he should drop his weapon, he turned to face them with his gun ready to fire and shouted expletives at the officers. "He was very aggressive in his demeanor toward police," said Miller.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660196700,00.html"He had a smirk on his face. He was acting like he was God.
Not much personal information on the suspect has been released; he remains a cypher. He dropped out of Horizonte High School at the age of 16 so he could provide income for his family. Both at school and in his latest job he was seen as someone who was polite but quiet. He appears to have had no close friends. It is unknown what information was on the family's computer or what was seized from his home. Shortly after coming to the US in 1998, between the ages of 10 to 12, Talovic had a number of run-ins with the law, including threatening others with a knife and a rock-throwing incident. Though he seems to have cleaned-up his act since then.
-------------------
Shooter/victims on the second floor? Officially there were no casualties on the second floor, nor did the shooter go up to the second floor, but the witnesses remember it differently:
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5214340After police had shot dead the suspected shooter, police warned of a second shooter on the second floor of the mall.
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5215063A woman on the lower level of the mall, near the Black Chandelier store, said she saw a shot and looked up upstairs and saw the gunman. He had a long dark coat, dark brown hair and was carrying a rifle or shotgun, she said. ....
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660195049,00.htmlBrad Merrill was waiting with his son outside of the Spaghetti Factory when a shooter ran up the stairs and "blew the doors and windows off." "He didn't say anything, he just shot in the door," Merrill said.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5215006John and George Donham, who live in an apartment south of Trolley Square, were walking through the east parking lot of the mall when they heard gunshots. They.... saw a man sitting in the passenger side of a dark Chrysler, bleeding from a head wound. He told the Donhams that he had been shot while he was on the second floor main lobby on the north side of the mall.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660195049,00.html--Two teenage girls heard the shots ringing out while they were inside the Desert Edge Brewery. After hearing one "really loud bang, people scattered everywhere," said Vera Bendixen. She and her friend, Tricia Temple, heard lots of rapid-fire shots and they ran into the pub's restroom, where they hid until employees told them everyone needed to get out.
Upon leaving the brewery, the girls said they passed two bodies lying on the floor on the second floor of the mall.
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=888784&comments=true
post by JamesA "we're trapped in the backroom of pottery barn kids and we witnessed people being gunned down in the second floor and in the entry way. police are aware we're here. and we just want everyone to know we're okay"
At about 6:43pm last Monday, February 12th, an 18yr old Bosnian refugee named Sulejman Talovic shot and killed five people and wounded four more at the Trolley Square shopping center near downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.
He began his rampage after getting out of his car in the west parking lot of the mall. Armed with a pump-action shotgun, a .38cal pistol, and a small backpack filled with extra ammo, a bandolier full of shotgun shells around his waist. He shot and killed 52-year-old Jeffery Walker in the parking terrace. Walker's son AJ, 16, was wounded and remains hospitalized in serious condition. On his way into the west doors, he shot Shawn Munns, 34, in the courtyard, wounding him. Munns is hospitalized in serious condition. Near the Bath and Body Works store, Talovic shot and killed Vanessa Quinn, 29.
Witnesses said he charged down the hallway and, with a calm expression on his face, opened fire on shoppers in the Cabin Fever novelty and card shop. Inside the store, Brad Frantz, 24, Teresa Ellis, 29, and Kirsten Hinckley, 15, were killed. Hinckley's mother, 44-year-old Carolyn Tuft, was wounded and remains in critical condition. Stacy Hanson, 53, was also shot inside the mall. An off-duty Ogden police officer heard the shots and returned fire with the handgun he was carrying. He was soon joined by four more Salt Lake City cops, who quickly cornered the gunman and shot him to death when he refused to put the gun down. It was over in seven minutes from start to finish.
The gunman was wearing a light colored shirt, dark pants and a tan trench coat. References to Columbine soon surfaced: four hours later police described the event as "Columbine-like." Later reports from the kid's neighbors said he always wore all black. And there were a lot of other things which put this one, once again, in "Columbine-client" territory.
First, and most important, were the early reports of a second shooter:
From Drudge: KPIX in San Francisco: 'First reports coming in say two shooters are involved'
www.sltrib.com/ci_5214340
After police had shot dead the suspected shooter, police warned of a second shooter on the second floor of the mall.
ksl.com talk radio(from late on the twelth):
"They(witnesses) claimed they saw more than one person wearing trenchcoats."
And long after the shooter was shot to death, police were kicking down doors and probing ceiling tiles in an effort to find another shooter.
deseretnews.com/dn/view/0...49,00.html
As of 7:15 p.m., police believed a shooter might still be loose in the mall.
www.sltrib.com/ci_5214340
After police had shot dead the suspected shooter, police warned of a second shooter on the second floor of the mall.
And witnesses IDed one of the gunmen as wearing a "dark" trenchcoat, not the tan trenchcoat reported.
www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5215063
Ron Mason and DeEta Barta: they saw a man coming in from the west parking lot. The man, wearing a dark trench coat.... A woman on the lower level of the mall, near the Black Chandelier store, said she saw a shot and looked up upstairs and saw the gunman. He had a long dark coat. ....
kutv.com/topstories/local_story_043212315.html
Witnesses say he gunman appeared to be.... wearing a dark trench coat...
Well, I guess it could have been a dark tan trenchcoat, but that would be more aptly described as 'brown,' and no one used that description.
Another problem is that one witness says the perp was on scene at the mall 'several' hours earlier, yet his boss says he was at work until 5pm. After Talovic left his job at the Aramark Uniform company he was seen by his father showering at home afterwards. So if this witness is describing the shooter he saw later it could not have been Talovic.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5215006Jeremy Jensen, 26, of Salt Lake City, at Desert Edge, said he saw the shooter several hours earlier, walking through the brewery. He remembered his long, tan trenchcoat and that he had a mullet midway down his back. Jensen said he saw the man later enter the mall from the parking deck, carrying a shotgun.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5218341Desert Edge employee Jeremy Jensen looked down from the second floor and spotted the gunman - a man he recognized as a brew pub customer from earlier that afternoon.
And some witness descriptions did not fit Talovic, who was 18 and described as 'lanky:'
Television station KTVX reported that a witness said they saw a short, stocky man in a bulky coat walking into the Trolley Square mall carrying a shotgun.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5216396(An employee at Bath and Body Works, Marie)Smith - who looked the shooter in the eye - described him as in his late 20s or early 30s...
Anyway police are now saying confusion about a second gunman was just the cop who was in the mall and pulled his own gun:
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5216389 on 2-14
"Rumors of a second shooter spread initially but within less than an hour, police determined there was just one gunman. Witnesses may have initially thought the off-duty officer, who with gun drawn was in pursuit of the killer, was also a gunman, (police spokesperson)Snyder said."
There were also the usual strange changes in mood during the shooting:
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=888784Another woman says she saw a man with short hair, wearing a coat and carrying a shotgun. She says he looked anxious as he wandered around with the gun.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660195184,00.html"His expression seemed totally calm," (an eyewitness named) Smith said. Others said that outside the mall, the gunman looked angry.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5218341--Witnesses who saw the gunman described him as calm and silent throughout the rampage.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660195317,00.htmlMunns..... He heard his attacker say "Die, (expletive)."
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5238962--The look on his face ''was a spirit of murder. It was like a spirit was on him''
--"He wasn't yelling but he was determined to kill and I could see it all over his face,"
--Talovic as appearing "almost like a robot."
--"He looked proud, arrogant."
--"He was strolling with an arrogant look on his face like he was king of the hill," he said. "He was enjoying himself. He really was."
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660196435,00.htmlWhen those three officers told Talovic that they were behind him and that he should drop his weapon, he turned to face them with his gun ready to fire and shouted expletives at the officers. "He was very aggressive in his demeanor toward police," said Miller.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660196700,00.html"He had a smirk on his face. He was acting like he was God.
Not much personal information on the suspect has been released; he remains a cypher. He dropped out of Horizonte High School at the age of 16 so he could provide income for his family. Both at school and in his latest job he was seen as someone who was polite but quiet. He appears to have had no close friends. It is unknown what information was on the family's computer or what was seized from his home. Shortly after coming to the US in 1998, between the ages of 10 to 12, Talovic had a number of run-ins with the law, including threatening others with a knife and a rock-throwing incident. Though he seems to have cleaned-up his act since then.
-------------------
Shooter/victims on the second floor? Officially there were no casualties on the second floor, nor did the shooter go up to the second floor, but the witnesses remember it differently:
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5214340After police had shot dead the suspected shooter, police warned of a second shooter on the second floor of the mall.
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5215063A woman on the lower level of the mall, near the Black Chandelier store, said she saw a shot and looked up upstairs and saw the gunman. He had a long dark coat, dark brown hair and was carrying a rifle or shotgun, she said. ....
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660195049,00.htmlBrad Merrill was waiting with his son outside of the Spaghetti Factory when a shooter ran up the stairs and "blew the doors and windows off." "He didn't say anything, he just shot in the door," Merrill said.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5215006John and George Donham, who live in an apartment south of Trolley Square, were walking through the east parking lot of the mall when they heard gunshots. They.... saw a man sitting in the passenger side of a dark Chrysler, bleeding from a head wound. He told the Donhams that he had been shot while he was on the second floor main lobby on the north side of the mall.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660195049,00.html--Two teenage girls heard the shots ringing out while they were inside the Desert Edge Brewery. After hearing one "really loud bang, people scattered everywhere," said Vera Bendixen. She and her friend, Tricia Temple, heard lots of rapid-fire shots and they ran into the pub's restroom, where they hid until employees told them everyone needed to get out.
Upon leaving the brewery, the girls said they passed two bodies lying on the floor on the second floor of the mall.
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=888784&comments=true
post by JamesA "we're trapped in the backroom of pottery barn kids and we witnessed people being gunned down in the second floor and in the entry way. police are aware we're here. and we just want everyone to know we're okay"
