SALT LAKE CITY — Terrified shoppers and diners at downtown Salt Lake City’s Trolley Square Mall were running for their lives, hiding under restaurant tables and in any nook, cranny, or closet they could find after an 18-year-old man identified Feb. 13 as Talovic Sulejmen went on a deadly shooting spree shortly after 6:40 p.m. Feb. 12. Jeffery Walker, 52, Vanessa Quinn, 28, Kirsten Hinkley, 24, Teresa Ellis, 28, and Brad Frantz, 15, were killed, it was revealed at a press conference Feb. 13. Four people were hospitalized, including Carolyn Tuft, 44, critical but stable condition; Shawn Munns, 34, serious but stable condition; Stacy Hansen, 53, serious but stable condition, and Allen Jeffrey Walker, 17, serious but stable condition as of Feb. 13. Trolley Square, a quaint, 239,000-square-foot shopping center built around the city’s old trolley barns erupted with the sounds of gunfire, screaming, and people running for cover when the shooting began at a site outside the mall. By the time the shooting stopped, six people lay dead, including the alleged shooter, and at least four people were seriously injured. An unknown number of shoppers, diners, and mall employees were being treated for minor injuries and shock on the scene while the more seriously injured were transported to the University of Utah Medical Center, LDS Hospital, and Salt Lake Regional Medical Center. From shortly after the shootings began, the mall was surrounded by layers of police cars and emergency vehicles from a number of law enforcement agencies, and ambulances from two companies. A triage area for the immediate treatment of victims was quickly set up in a corner of the mall parking lot. Laws enforcement officers searched every corner of the sprawling mall and were assisted by helicopters in searching the mall’s roof. Shortly after 10 p.m., Robin Snyder, Salt Lake City Police Department spokeswoman, announced that the police had located one gunman, "and he is dead." Mary Mayo and her daughter JoAnne were just leaving the Spaghetti Factory, a restaurant on the upper level of Trolley Square, when they heard shots and saw the alleged shooter. Mayo is the wife of Diocesan Chancellor Deacon Silvio Mayo, and JoAnne is the twin sister of Cathedral of the Madeleine Rector Father Joseph M. Mayo. "We had left the restaurant and were heading toward the stairs, when I pulled a program for an interfaith service I’d attended a few nights before," said JoAnne. "We sat down on a bench to look at the brochure, and that’s when we heard the sound of breaking glass." The Mayos stepped to the railing and looked over the side to the bottom of the stairs they nearly walked down, and there was the gunman. "We did not see a trenchcoat or a backpack, as others had sene," Mary said. "He was wearing a white, button-down shirt and black pants, and he carried a gun, a rifle or a shotgun." The Mayos returned to the restaurant, taking cover first behind the hostess’ desk, then into an area shaped like a caboose. "The staff of the Spaghetti Factory really should be commended," said Mary. "They moved everyone upstairs to a safer place, and they locked the front gate to the restaurant. Some people were crying, and we were all scared, but they turned out the lights and did everything they could to keep us calm." The restaurant patrons and staff stood together in the dark for about 15 minutes before they heard someone tell them to leave the restaurant with their hands above their heads. It was the police. JoAnne said law enforcement officials made a safe path for them down the stairs and out of the mall. Because they had seen the gun man, the Mayos were asked not to leave the scene. They were given blankets to keep them warm and to ward off shock, and escorted into the HardRock Cafe, where police were taking statements. "We told them what we saw and what we heard," Mary said. "We saw the man with the gun, but we didn’t see him shoot anyone, thank God," JoAnne said. "We were blessed that we didn’t see any bodies or anyone who had been hurt." The morning of Feb. 13 found the city block around the mall still cordoned off with yellow police tape, and officers from several agencies sifting through the mall for further evidence. Numerous private cars including the Mayos’ were still impounded in the mall parking lot.
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