Teen in trench coat kills 5 at Utah mall

[NoLimitWordz]

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- A historic mall's winding hallways became a shooting gallery for 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.

The shooter, whose name was not released, also was armed with a handgun and had several rounds of ammunition, Salt Lake City police Detective Robin Snyder said early Tuesday. No motive has yet been determined, she said.

For hours after Monday evening's rampage at the Trolley Square shopping mall, police searched stores for scared, shocked shoppers and employees who were hunkered down awaiting a safe escort. (Watch witnesses recount gunshots, carnage Video)

Marie Smith, 23, a Bath & Body Works manager, saw the gunman through the store window. She watched as he raised his gun and fired at a young woman approaching him from behind.

"His expression stayed totally calm. He didn't seem upset, or like he was on a rampage," said Smith, who crawled to safety in an employee restroom to hide with others. She said the gunman looked like "an average Joe."

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.
'A barrage of gunfire'

Matt Lund was visiting his wife, Barbara, manager of the Secret Garden children's clothing store, when he heard the first shots. The couple and three others hid in a storage room for about 40 minutes, isolated but still able to hear the violence.

"We heard them say, 'Police! Drop your weapon!' Then we heard shotgun fire. Then there was a barrage of gunfire," said Lund, 44. "It was hard to believe."

They say officers treated everyone like suspects -- ordering those hiding in storerooms, bathrooms or under stairwells, to lie on the floor with their hands on their heads until police were sure no one posed a threat.

On the way out, Lund said, he saw a woman's body facedown at the entrance to Pottery Barn Kids and a man's body on the floor in the mall's east-west corridor. "There were a lot of blown-out store windows and shotgun shell casings all over the floor," Lund said. "It was quite surreal."

The victims were found throughout the 239,000-square-foot shopping mall.

Outside, streets were blocked as police swarmed the four-block scene. Dozens of people lingered on the sidewalk, many wrapped in blankets, as they talked about what they had seen inside.
Four police in shootout with gunman

The two-story mall, southeast of downtown, is a refurbished trolley barn built in 1908, with a series of winding hallways, brick floors, wrought-iron balconies and about 80 stores, including high-end retailers such as Williams-Sonoma and restaurants such as the Hard Rock Cafe.

Antique store owner Barrett Dodds, 29, said he saw a man in a trench coat exchanging gunfire with a police officer outside a card store. The gunman, he said, was backed into a children's clothing store.

"I saw the shooter go down," said Dodds, who watched from the second floor.

Four police officers -- one an off-duty officer from Ogden and three Salt Lake City officers -- were involved in the shootout with the gunman, Snyder said. She provided no other details.

Barb McKeown, 60, of Washington was in another antique shop when two frantic women ran in and reported gunshots.

"Then we heard shot after shot after shot -- loud, loud, loud," said McKeown, saying she heard about 20. She and three other people hid under a staircase until it was safe to leave.

source: D12world.com

[sinemm]

one to prison others to grave..is that good?

i really feel bad when we hear those news..theres not too much things to say tho..thats just so sad

[NoLimitWordz]

yeah, it's a shame....people always gotta solve there problems with guns

[Flamez]

damn ppl should stop with this kind of killing...just sad to hear smh the use of guns is not to go around killing people..

[Flamez]

damn ppl should stop with this kind of killing...just sad to hear smh the use of guns is not to go around killing people..

then what are they for

well they for sure aren't too shoot randomly at people smh there for your own protection not just to kill randomly anybody they see...

[AspirinE]

omfg... gun laws save people


Maybe because about 40% of US believes the earth is only 10 000 years old, they are evolving too slowly to understand that having free access to weapons leads to shit like this.

[Curious]

omfg... gun laws save people


Maybe because about 40% of US believes the earth is only 10 000 years old, they are evolving to slowly to understand that having free access to weapons leads to shit like this.

there's a lot of things certain ppl have misunderstood
it's heartwrenching that ppl don't seem 2 grasp that guns r not 4 protection they're 4 killing - if random ppl didn't own guns it wouldn't be necessary 2 own 1 2 protect urself

i don't walk around in my country feeling unsafe in the streets but i did in L.A. cause it was obvious that ppl were carrying guns n insecurity leads to triggerhappiness n then suddenly a country of gun-toting maniacs has evolved

[kristinedrake]

I figured, as my search came with nothing like this, i'd start it. I keep telling my friends, who keep buying trench coats to go and spice it up. I in my horrible sewing talents and figuring i will show them up by making a unique and very darkly blessed trench coat.

My thoughts(not all on the same trench mind you):
-taking lace and drapping it from various parts along the torso
-buttons... colourful UV reflective buttons!
-taking fishnet and cutting it so it is web-like from the cuff of the sleeve to waist of the torso
-taking the pattern and making a succulent velvet trench(dies for velvet)
-somehow making a Labrynth based trench, like Bowies

Those are my current ideas. I'd love to hear more, esspecialy from some of the more experianced.