Salt Lake police soon to issue report on Trolley shooting rampage

The Salt Lake City Police Department's long-awaited probe into the shooting rampage at Trolley Square finally may be released.

The "after-action report" on 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic's killing spree that left five people dead and four wounded could be released as early as next week, police said.

"Hopefully, we'll be able to shed some light on the events of Feb. 12 and answer some questions of what occurred," Salt Lake City police Detective Jeff Bedard told the Deseret Morning News on Thursday.

What, specifically, the report will cover is unknown. Homicide detectives have been compiling it, and it is expected to include details about the shooting itself and the massive police response.

Its release has been delayed while federal gun cases were prosecuted against four people accused of supplying Talovic with the weapons. Those cases ended in a series of plea deals.

What may not be included in the exhaustive probe is a motive for the mall massacre. Talovic died in a shootout with police.

"I think it may have died with him," Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank said in an August interview with the Deseret Morning News.

The report will come as the nation is reeling from another mall shooting. Nine people are dead after a 19-year-old man went on a shooting rampage inside an Omaha, Neb., department store. Police said Robert Hawkins used an AK-47 to shoot his eight victims, before turning the gun on himself.

"We are deeply saddened that a tragedy this horrific could be repeated," said Tom Bard, principal of Scanlan Kemper Bard, the owners of Trolley Square. "Our heartfelt prayers and sympathy go out to the victims, their families and the entire Omaha community as they move forward in healing from this senseless and random act of violence."

Police said on the night of Feb. 12 Talovic stepped out of his car at the Trolley Square mall's parking terrace armed with a pistol-grip shotgun and a .38-caliber handgun, also carrying a backpack full of ammunition and a bandolier of shotgun shells around his waist.

He first killed Jeffrey Walker, 52, and wounded his teenage son Alan "AJ" Walker. Outside the mall's west doors, he wounded Shawn Munns.