Teen dies after shooting himself in mall parking lot

WEST VALLEY CITY — A 17-year-old boy died Friday after police say he shot himself in the head in the parking lot of Valley Fair Mall.

About 10 a.m., a female student at Granger High School received several text messages from a fellow student who said she was being held hostage by someone with a gun at Valley Fair Mall near 3300 South and 2700 West, said West Valley Police Lt. Bill Merritt.

The girl at the school contacted the school's detective, who relayed the information to dispatchers.

West Valley police officers surrounded the mall and then started searching the building and the parking lot for the possible hostage, Merritt said. One of the officers was flagged down by a person who said a teenage boy had just shot himself inside an SUV in the parking lot.

Meanwhile, dispatchers received a call from the girl who was believed to be a hostage. She said she had escaped from the SUV and that the boy was going to kill himself, Merritt said.

Police located the boy, and he was taken to a local hospital in extremely critical condition.

Merritt said police believe the girl went willingly with the boy to the mall. At some point he showed her a gun but did not point it at her.

West Valley police said they received word just before 5 p.m. that the boy had died.

— Pat Reavy and Ethan Thomas