Shooting Near Trolley Square Prompts Evacuations, Lockdowns
Apr 11, 2019, 6:34 PM | Updated: 6:45 pm
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — After a report of shots fired at about 600 East 500 South, police promptly shut down the area around Trolley Square as they searched for a suspect.
“The information that we had was that the suspect fled onto the mall property,” Detective Greg Wilking said. “We think this was a confrontation between this individual and another individual.”
Not many stores were open when the shots were fired, around 7:30am, but Colton Pearson, and others were setting up for an event inside The Falls Event Center.
“I was cleaning up, and I heard some knocking on the door,” Pearson said. “I looked over, and there was a cop with a shotgun, and I walked up and he just let me know that we need to evacuate.”
A witness told police that while the shots were fired just down the street from Trolley Square, the shooter immediately ran off into the mall parking garage.
“He may have come onto the property briefly, but then we were able to determine that he left the area,” Wilking said.
General counsel for Trolley Square’s Property Management office Taymour Semnani told KSL TV surveillance systems at the mall ultimately helped police determine where the suspect ran in and out of the garage.
“I think as far as the way police handled it, they did a fantastic job,” Semnani said. “They got a report that the suspect ran to the property, and immediately coordinated with us to lock it down.”
People inside Whole Foods were told to shelter in place and some area elementary schools were briefly put on lockdown. Wilking said detectives are still actively looking for the man who fired the shots.
