911 tapes released in slaying of Lehi mother

OREM — A surprisingly calm man was among the first to call police dispatchers the morning of Jan. 6. The call came in at 11:10 a.m.

"There's a shooter out in the parking lot of a church," the caller told dispatchers. "Shots fired."

A sobbing mother had run into the Lehi LDS building with her children, the man told dispatchers, and there was a "parking lot full of freaked-out people."

He explained that a female in her 30s was shot in the chest; she was unconscious, not breathing, and some people had started CPR. When asked by the dispatcher if there was anyone to help, he said there were "about 20 people in suits."

The woman, Kristy Ragsdale, died in the parking lot where she had been shot multiple times. Her husband, David Ragsdale, is accused of shooting her.

The words of the panicked people at the church — and the back-and-forth between officers and dispatchers as police scrambled to find the scene of the shooting — were captured on 911 tapes, which were obtained Friday by the Deseret Morning News.

According to the tapes, the first officers and ambulances arrived just after 11:20 a.m. at the church at 1691 E. 900 North in Lehi — 11 minutes after the first calls started coming into dispatch.

Delays in response were probably caused by confused officers and dispatchers who were given several incorrect addresses by a 911 caller, including 600 N. 1500 East, 1691 N. 1500 East and 1500 E. 700 North.

Asked to give a description of the shooter, according to the tapes, the caller asked the people standing around the scene who the shooter was.

"I believe it was her husband, David Ragsdale," another man told the dispatcher after the original caller handed him the phone.

Bullet casings of a fairly large caliber weapon surrounded her body and belonged to a handgun, he is heard saying on the tapes.

The dispatcher asked if he saw what happened.

"He drove up past me, jumped out and just started popping her," he said.

At 11:22 a.m. officers who responded to the scene reported Kristy Ragsdale was dead.

"She's going to be a 1085 echo, I believe," an officer reported to dispatchers.