Skip navigation
TrafficCourt

Shooter Slays Five at Utah Mall

An 18-year-old gunman in a trench coat who fired a shotgun randomly at customers, killing five and wounding four before being killed by police, authorities and witnesses said.

...

Killed were two 28-year-old women, a 52-year-old man, a 24-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl, Snyder said. Four people were hospitalized — a man and a woman in critical condition and two men in serious condition, Snyder said.

More details here.

Update: It seems an off-duty police officer and city police played the biggest role in ending the spree when it did and preventing more people from being killed.

There's been no mention in any stories of the role mall security guards may or may not have played. But given how little mall security guards are paid and inexperienced many are, as described in a recent Department of Justice report(pdf), it may be little wonder why.

In an odd coincidence, yesterday morning--just hours before the shooting--think tank Rand Corp. issued a report listing 39 security measures that can substantially reduce the risk of terrorist attacks at enclosed shopping centers.

Hide comments

Comments

  • Allowed HTML tags: <em> <strong> <blockquote> <br> <p>

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Publish