Workers at Trolley share pain

I've been a reporter for almost 20 years. But this week I went to Trolley Square not as a journalist, but as a mom and youth leader for a bunch of teenage girls from my neighborhood. We took cookies to the store clerks and business owners. We made cards for them. "You are in our thoughts and prayers," one said.

Each card had hearts and bright colors and good wishes. "We haven't forgotten you," said another. "We love Trolley Square."

As it turned out, this Wednesday outing was so rich and eye-opening — so full of heart and humanness — that it trumps many experiences I've had in my work.

For an hour that evening, the girls and a few moms walked store-to-store, talking to employees. Every person we encountered welcomed us warmly. All wanted to talk about what they had seen during the Feb. 12 shooting rampage that claimed six lives and left many wounded.

All of the employees wanted to share how they were recovering.

"You got to get past it, and I'm trying," said a security guard who found shooting victim Jeffrey Walker's body on the parking terrace.

This security guard had been on the job three days when the shootings occurred. He's 20. He's from Compton, Calif. He guesses he's been to 25 funerals in L.A. He's seen people shot, been shot at himself. This was different.

Down there, he told the group of wide-eyed girls, you know why you're getting shot. "You stole dope from somebody or you're sleeping with somebody else's wife.

"But this shooting? No reason why. If you aren't safe at Trolley Square in Salt Lake City, then where the hell are you safe."

He moved to Salt Lake City to get himself, his babies and his girlfriend away from all that trouble. Now the big burly young man, who's an amateur boxer, tell us he has a tougher battle to wage.

Witnesses have come to him asking what exactly happened. What exactly he saw.

"I feel so sad for them," he says, "but I can't tell them."

Because it was awful, he says. Worse than Compton awful.

"They don't want to know."

Five people we met witnessed shooter Sulejman Talovic's attack firsthand.