Tours still set for Guatemala in wake of Ogden man's death

Another tour group sponsored by Book of Mormon Tours departed for Guatemala from Salt Lake City Thursday — a day after an Ogden architect on the company's "Sacred Sites" tour was killed in an armed ambush there.

"You never in a million years imagine something like this will happen," Book of Mormon Tours leader Todd Allen said of the death of Brett Richards, 52, who died after being shot in the chest when the group's bus was boarded and robbed Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City announced Thursday that its own diplomatic security force has been investigating the incident since about 5 p.m. Wednesday, along with the Guatemalan police. They'll soon be joined by FBI agents, perhaps from the agency's Salt Lake City office.

The 12 other tour group members who were with Richards were in Guatemala City Thursday and were expected to return home today. U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala John Hamilton is scheduled to meet with them this evening.

Allen said none of the 30 people who'd signed up for the next tour had canceled. "At this point we're going forward. I'm going to try to give them the best time I can down there," he told reporters at the company's Orem headquarters shortly before leaving for Guatemala.

One of the tour participants, Sharon Jacobs, said she was sad when she heard the news of Richards' death but never considered backing out of the trip. "I think that was an isolated incident," she said. "I don't believe they are attacking Americans."

The group will not travel to the same area where the incident occurred.

Members of another of the company's tours already under way in Guatemala also decided to continue their trip, according to a release issued on behalf of Book of Mormon Tours by attorney Gordon Duval.

Safety paramount

Allen, whose father, Joseph, was injured in the attack, said nothing like this had ever happened before in the 33 years that the company has guided tours to sites it identifies as connected with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through the Book of Mormon, a volume of scripture unique to the faith. Church members believe the book is a spiritual history of several groups that are believed to have inhabited parts of Central America in ancient times.

"We've had some isolated incidents, but it's always been a pickpocket-type thing," he said. The tour group that was attacked was vulnerable, he said, because they were in a remote area rather than a city.