Hostages being held in the Salt Lake City Library by a gunman dressed in fatigues and holding a bomb detonator Saturday faced the prospect of drawing straws to determine who would live and who would die.
Clifford Lynn Draper told 18 hostages being held in a room on the second floor that if he didn't get what he wanted from police, he would begin shooting those who drew the wrong straws in order to get his point across to authorities.Nearly 51/2 hours after Draper, 29, had jumped onto a desk following a peace ceremony held by Tibetan monks and corralled his hostages into a conference room, a plainclothes police officer who voluntarily became a hostage shot Draper three times in the chest, mortally wounding him. He died shortly after being transported to LDS Hospital.
Librarian Gwen Page, who had been a hostage, praised Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Lloyd Prescott for saving her life and the lives of those she had tried to keep calm as they sat in the room with Draper, watching him become increasingly agitated and irrational as his demands went unmet.
"If it hadn't been for Prescott, we would have been in there 72 hours waiting to see if we would live or die," said Page. The gunman had told hostages he was prepared to wait until Monday for more than $25,000 ransom and execute his captives one by one until his demands were met.
While Page hailed Prescott as a hero, she was praised for her heroic composure in the face of terror.
A librarian for 17 years, Page was familiar with the layout of the building and voluntarily became a hostage to calmly facilitate the demands of the gunman and to ease fears of fellow hostages.
At the conclusion of the harrowing siege, city officials praised Prescott and Page as selfless heroes whose courage and clear thinking provided a "happy ending" to what could have been a major disaster.
Prescott was teaching a training class at the sheriff's office next to the library when he was alerted to the developing hostage situation.
Immediately, Prescott ran to the library to help. Dressed in sweats and concealing a handgun, he apparently tricked Draper into thinking he had been present amid the confusion the whole time. He entered the room where the hostages were being held and closed the door behind him.
"Suddenly (Prescott) shows up," said witness Carl Robinson. "I said, `Get out of here,' and he said, `It's OK, I'm with the sheriff's department."
Witnesses said Draper had been quietly observing the peace ceremony when he suddenly pushed past the monks and participants about 9:15 a.m. - brandishing a handgun in one hand and a hair-curling iron with wires leading to a gym bag in the other. He held the curling-iron clamp open and said if he closed it a bomb would go off.
"He just walked up waving a handgun and saying, `Don't anybody leave, don't anybody move,' " said Tim Houpt, who was at the library working on a school report with his 10-year-old son. "The guy also told everyone he had a bomb that could blow up the whole building."
Draper then jumped on a reference desk near the monk's sand painting and began randomly selecting hostages.
While on the table, Draper also told witnesses, "Thanks, dudes, have a good life, because mine probably won't last long."
The gunman also produced a sealed letter he wanted mailed to the Deseret News and gave it to one of the Buddhist monks. The monk, who does not speak English, handed the letter to Carl Robinson - who later passed it on to investigators.
Draper ordered his captives at gunpoint into a south wall conference room - interrupting a meeting being conducted by 11 members of a local Toastmaster Club.
"He came into our room and said, `Do what I say because I've got a bomb," said Jan Carlston. "As he was going in and out of the room, some of us ran out another door."
Carlston, his 17-year-old daughter and seven other Toastmasters rushed past several shelves of novels until they reached an employee exit. Two others from their group remained behind as hostages.
After the ordeal, Page recounted her harrowing experience.
The librarian said she was ordered to perform tasks throughout the siege because of her familiarity with the building. Page secured the door of the room with rope and tied another hostage to Draper at one point during the course of events.
The gunman apparently released some hostages initially taken during the course of the 51/2 hour siege.
Draper did not elaborate on the demands to his captives but occasionally complained about the Establishment and the military. He also wanted to speak with Gov. Mike Leavitt and the commander of the Utah National Guard to demand a pardon for his actions, Page said.
While the Tibetan monks gathered outside the library to chant a prayer of peace, Draper became increasingly desperate and impatient. The gunman demanded a doc-tor when a diabetic hostage began experiencing insulin shock.
"Most of the time (Draper) told us that he didn't want to hurt us - but he became agitated when he felt police were just putting him on hold," said Page. "On the phone he told police if they didn't get their act together and get a military doctor, he would be forced to kill someone."
About 2:35 p.m., Draper told the 11 remaining hostages they were going to draw straws - apparently to determine who would be executed. Sensing the dire situation at hand, Prescott identified himself as an officer and shot his captor with the previously hidden Glock .40-caliber handgun.
"The lieutenant yelled for us to hit the ground, and I heard three shots," said Page. "Then we made it to the door and we all ran out."
SWAT teams immediately rushed in and found Prescott restraining Draper.
Two SWAT team members, Troy Siebert and Karl Gabbitas, received minor injuries when they were cut by broken glass as they burst into the room.
As is standard practice, Prescott was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation of the shooting.
Moments after Draper was shot, police were scrambling to find out more about the man regarded by his neighbors at the Windsor Hotel (241 S. State) as weird and aloof.
"He has no acquaintances or friends or anything. He's been a real loner," said the hotel's owner, who declined to give her name.
Cary Tanner, who also lives in the hotel, said she didn't know Draper but saw him occasionally. When Salt Lake residents recently felt a minor earthquake, she said she saw Draper come out into the hallway.
"He freaked out and came out in big survival gear and everything," she said.
Draper had been living in the Windsor Hotel since Dec. 29, 1993. Police raided his apartment during the siege, reportedly finding combat magazines, combat gear, ammunition and scraps of paper with notes about foreign countries.