Trolley image wins Photo of the Year award

Deseret Morning News photographer Mike Terry's shot of a powerful scene from the Feb., 12, 2007, Trolley Square shootings has been selected as the Associated Press Managing Editors Member Showcase Photo of the Year.

Terry's award, which includes a plaque and $1,000, will be given out at an APME conference in Washington, D.C., next month.

The photo depicted a Salt Lake City police officer crouching, with gun drawn, over the body of one of Sulejman Talovic's victims. Talovic, 18, took the lives of five people that Monday evening before police killed him in a shootout inside the mall.

Using a 400 millimeter lens, Terry captured his prize-winning image while standing outside the mall. He remembers getting a "sick" feeling in his stomach during the brief moment he looked through the lens, still not believing what he saw as one police officer went down on one knee by the body to provide cover for other officers at the scene.

"It was all really just kind of a quick, fluid motion," Terry said about firing off a few frames. "The whole scene was pretty intense."

Terry gave his digital camera's memory card to colleague Tom Smart, who edited the images and alerted editors of the one photo that spoke volumes. Several editors discussed the photo and ultimately decided to run with it.

"It told the entire story of Trolley Square in one photograph," said Morning News assistant photo editor August Miller. "It showed the gravity of the situation," he added, without depicting blood and gore.

Terry admitted he was glad the decision whether to run the photo didn't fall on him, a 24-year-old mass communication student at the University of Utah.

"It was kind of like a big wake-up call — this is newspaper journalism," he said about the whole experience that evening.

After the photo ran the next day, there were many mixed emotions from readers. Some called the photo degrading and disrespectful, while others appreciated the value of its content.

Terry personally received a letter, which he saved, that expressed gratitude for running the photo. The letter's author said the image should evoke sadness and outrage over the killings and that if it was their loved one on the ground, they would want people to know what happened, Terry said.