Police seek help locating woman in wake of shooting

South Salt Lake police are asking for the public's help in finding a woman who was renting a hotel room from where a gun was fired into an adjacent room.

The shot narrowly missed a man sleeping in the bed in the next room. The man said he had gotten up to answer the phone just moments earlier, which might have saved his life.

The man, who wished to remain anonymous, was lying in bed at the Inn Town Suites, 48 W. 3300 South, last week when the phone rang.

Just as the man leaned over to pick up the phone, he heard a shot fired and a bullet struck the headboard of his bed.

South Salt Lake Police Capt. Chris Snyder said it was unclear whether the man would have actually been hit if he hadn't moved. He said the man's pillow appeared to be on the right side and the bullet hit the lower left side of the headboard.

Police determined the gunshot came from the room adjacent to the man's. The room was unoccupied when officers arrived, although no one had officially checked out, Snyder said.

Investigators recovered the bullet from the victim's mattress. It appeared the shot went through the headboard of the bed in the shooter's room, through the wall and struck the headboard in the next room, Snyder said.

No shell casing or any other items of evidentiary value were found in the alleged shooter's room, Snyder said. Detectives believed the shot was fired from a medium-caliber handgun.

Another hotel guest told police he heard an argument and scuffling coming from the room prior to the shot being fired. No blood or signs of any injuries were found in the room, Snyder said.

Friday, police said they were looking for Denise Ranck, 31. Ranck was registered as the person renting the room but has not been seen since the shooting incident, Snyder said. She checked into the room on March 12.

Ranck is 5-foot-2, 125 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. A check of court records shows Ranck was found guilty last year on drug- and alcohol-related charges.

Police want to question Ranck to find out what happened and also make sure no one in the room was injured.

Anyone with information on Ranck is asked to call police at 840-4000.

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E-mail: preavy@desnews.com