Candlelight ceremony marks start of healing

Intermountain Catholic

+ Enlarge

IC photos by Barbara S. Lee

Participants in a Feb. 15 candlelight ceremony of community support and gratitude (above right) light their candles in the entryway of the Salt Lake City Library building. The ceremony, planned to begin the community healing after the Feb. 12 shootings at the Trolley Square Mall, began with the ringing of church bells in the area. Hundreds of people participated in the ceremony, including the family of shooting victim Kirsten Hinckley, shopkeepers and shop owners of Trolley Square, witnesses to the shootings, and others who came out to show their solidarity with the suffering. A bagpiper played "Amazing Grace" as speakers ascended the stairway to the second level of the library, where they were met by Salt Lake City mayor Ross "Rocky" Anderson. (Below, right) Salt Lake City Police Sgt. Andy Oblad, Ogden City Police Officer Kenneth Hammond, and Salt Lake City Detectives Dustin Marshall and Brett Olsen, who, along with Salt Lake City Police Sgt. Josh Scharman, confronted shooting suspect 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic, meet Mayor Anderson at the top of the stairs. The four eventually killed the suspect, and are being credited with saving dozens of lives. Speakers at the ceremony included Mayor Anderson, Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon, Salt Lake City Police Department Captain Chris Burbank, and Bosnia-Herzegovina Ambassador Bisera Turkovic. After a moment of silence in honor of the victims, Mayor Anderson spoke of the courage of those who protected others during the events, including shopkeepers and other "everyday people," in addition to members of the police force. Turkovic emphasized that the attack was the action of one "Tormented" person, not the entire Bosnian community.