Woman in Lehi shooting sought new life in Utah

PROVO — Kelly Wark, the woman who was shot by police after wounding an officer during a bizarre traffic stop on Monday, moved to Provo in April, hoping for a new life and a fresh start.

"She hadn't been (to Utah) before," said Wark's sister, Erin. "But she researched a lot of places. She really thought (Utah had) beautiful scenery. She really liked the small-town atmosphere."

Wark, 34, a native of a Gig Harbor, Wash., studied art and psychology at Western Washington University and was switching her focus to study massage therapy at the Utah College of Massage Therapy in Lindon.

Her family knew she had struggled with mental illness for years but believed she was "on her way to beginning anew," said Erin Wark, in a phone interview from Washington.

Yet a few days ago, Wark called home to say she was having trouble sleeping.

"She hadn't slept in four days," Erin Wark said. "I know that she was having a hard time."

But her family never fathomed that her struggle with mental illness would lead her to pull a gun on a Lehi police officer Monday morning and shoot him twice in the head before being fatally shot by other officers on the scene.

"Most people have known someone, have a family member — everyone understands about (mental illness)," Erin Wark said. "If only we could finally get to a place in our system where the system understands it and there's less opportunities for tragedies like this to happen, for people to fall through the cracks and be in possession of firearms. That sort of thing, it just happens way too often, then one day it happens to you."

The Wark family released a statement Tuesday expressing their "deepest condolences" to the family of Lehi Police Capt. Harold Terry, the 55-year-old officer who was shot during the traffic stop.

They also noted that Wark was a kind, gentle woman with artistic talent and no violent history.

"She's never been violent before, ever," Erin Wark said. "She's had numerous struggles with mental illness ... but she has never harmed anyone."

Police, too, are still searching for answers about what went wrong and what might have caused the fatal traffic stop.

Just before 9 a.m. Monday, Terry pulled Wark over at 1000 E. Main in Lehi, responding to a 911 call. A gas-station clerk called to report an impaired driver.