From Deseret News archives:

A night of terror heard on tape

911 calls disclose new details about Trolley Square massacre

Published: Friday, March 2, 2007 9:00 a.m. MST
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Salt Lake City Police Sgt. Andy Oblad, Sgt. Josh Scharman, detective Dustin Marshall and detective Brett Olsen were the first city officers inside the mall. Oblad met up with Hammond who moved on Talovic from the south while Scharman, Marshall and Olsen confronted him from the north.

"He's in the Pottery Barn Kids," one officer says.

A moment later, Talovic is cornered, shot and killed. All of the officers fired their weapons during the final confrontation with Talovic.

"We have one male down in the Pottery Barn," an officer radios over to dispatch. "The suspect is down."

Then, an officer tells dispatch the "suspect is obvious echo" — police code for dead. Even after Talovic was shot, anxious officers are heard telling dispatchers to send more ambulances.

"I have one, two, three, four, five down, at least five down! Cabin Fever in the mall! I need medical immediately!" one officer shouts to dispatchers.

The scope of the tragedy started to become even clearer as other officers reported more victims.

"Units be advised there is also one person shot in the Hard Rock Cafe," one dispatcher radioed over.

"I've got one echo victim top parking lot of Trolley Square," another officer reported.

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Some people were also apparently injured but did not go to the hospital. A man from Rodizio Grill called dispatchers to say one of his employees was grazed in the forehead by a bullet. A woman called 911 to report a 60-year-old woman who was hit with some shrapnel in the foot. She was not taken to a hospital, either.

The wife of one of the wounded calls a dispatcher asking which hospital he was going to.

"He called me and said, 'I'm fine. I've been shot in the back,"' she said.

People in hiding

After Talovic was killed, police began a search of the mall for victims and any other gunmen.

"We're going to do a systematic clear of the complex now," an officer told dispatchers. "We're going to leave an article from the store in the doorway to let you know it's clear."

Employees in several businesses locked themselves and their customers in closets, bathrooms, fitting rooms and storage rooms. Terry Cononelos was inside the Desert Edge Brewery.

"We're locked in the freezer. There's six of us locked in the freezer of the auxiliary kitchen," he said.

"OK, don't leave," the dispatcher told him.

"Will you call us when it's safe to leave?" he asked.

A floor below in the Sharper Image store, Scott Duyman and more than a dozen others took shelter in a back room.

"We have it barricaded with a safe," he told the dispatcher.

Dispatchers continued receiving 911 calls for the next several hours from employees locked in their stores, afraid to come out.

Cononelos called 911 again.

"We're still locked in the freezer at Trolley Square," he said, sounding clearly irritated.

Salt Lake City police said the shooting remains under investigation. Talovic's motive for the killing spree remains a mystery.



E-mail: preavy@desnews.com; bwinslow@desnews.com

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