EXCLUSIVE: Shop Owner Caught in Crossfire of Shooting Rampage Refusing To Enter Store
Apr 30, 2019, 6:23 PM | Updated: 6:29 pm
SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah — A business owner caught in the cross fire of a shooting rampage along State Street three weeks ago that ended up destroying his shop still has nightmares of the experience and is a “changed man” according to his wife.
In fact Thaer Hassan Mahdi no longer wants to step inside Princess Alterations at 3339 South State Street because of the memories he has of almost getting killed from the hail of bullets that came flying through his windows and walls.
Mahdi was in the back area, when suddenly a pick up truck came smashing through the window on Monday April 8th.
Police had been chasing the driver during a shooting rampage through the streets of Salt Lake. After the suspect crashed his truck into the business, gunfire erupted—sending bullets everywhere.
One hit an area he just walked away from seconds before the crash. “If he was here, [the bullets] coming here and kill him,” said his wife Saadiyah Hassan to KSL’s Dan Rascon, as she pointed to a bullet hole in the wall and showed where her husband was standing.
Hassan said, as a result, her husband is no longer the same man.
“He’s sad all the time. He’s not like before. He was funny guy like to joke. He’s just sad.” said Saadiyah Hassan to KSL’s Dan Rascon. “I don’t know what happened to him.”
Saadiyah spoke with Rascon at their business when she was meeting with the owner of the building and the contractors who are going to be starting to repair the place.
The owner of the building said he’s looking forward to the repairs.
“I never imagined what happened to my place,” said Chao Zheng the landlord. “Ready to fix door, window, stucco and also inside. Everything is going to be new.”
Contractors said it will be a good two months before the building is looking like new again. They say the damage is about $40,000.
Saadiyah said they are still trying to decide if they want to move back in when the work is done or open up in another location.
“If I move now, I maybe lose my customers. I don’t want to lose my customers,” she said.
