Tacoma mall a Trolley template?

In November 2005, a 20-year-old man armed with a semiautomatic weapon made his way through a mall in Tacoma, Wash., shooting randomly as people fled screaming. When he emerged some hours later, six people were wounded, one seriously.

More than a year later, business at Tacoma Mall has largely resumed normal levels. For some, the recovery was quick. But other businesses say they're just now returning to normalcy.

"You know when Mount St. Helens blew, and the trees went down like toothpicks? That's kind of how the people fell in the mall" when the shooting started, said Karen Edmonson, manager at Mark's Hallmark. "You could watch outside, and it was like the domino effect, the people going down onto the ground to escape the ricochets or anything."

The shop had three people on staff that day, who helped customers escape through the back of the store. It was terrifying, Edmondson said. But even then, she said, "people knew it for what it was."

"It was an isolated incident, obviously a gentleman that was just very, very angry, who was a little lost that way," Edmondson said.

There are similarities between the shootings in Tacoma and Monday's incident at Salt Lake's Trolley Square: both happened at malls, both were seemingly random, both were seemingly carried out by young, disaffected men against unknown victims. Employees at the various stores at both sites helped hide customers and provide shelter from the panic and the bullets.

There are also differences. All told, six people were shot at Tacoma Mall, none fatally. Five victims suffered what police called minor injuries, while one suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was paralyzed in the incident. Three people were held hostage for hours before being released. The suspect, Dominick Maldonado, is awaiting trial.

Trolley Square is just now beginning the healing process, with some vendors opening their doors Wednesday amid boarded-up windows, shot through and cracked. Others have chosen to wait. Trolley's owners say they're committed to continuing with their planned renovation project, which promised new anchor tenants, brighter interiors in the main building and possibly even condominiums. It is not known how that project, or the psyche of one of Utah's historic gathering places, will proceed.

Perhaps Tacoma Mall provides a template. Perhaps not. But business in Tacoma is largely back to normal.

Edmonson credited Tacoma Police and mall management for keeping the situation as calm and safe as possible during the evacuation and hostage negotiations, which facilitated a quick resumption of business.

"They were right on top of it all the way," Edmonson said. "The major importance was to get the customers out of the mall so they'd be safe."