A gunman opened fire inside the downtown LDS Church Family History Library on Thursday morning, killing two people and wounding at least five. A suspect later died after being shot by police.
The shooting began about 10:30 a.m. inside the building at 35 N. West Temple, causing pandemonium as hundreds of terrified people fled while police SWAT teams moved in.Details were sketchy, but witnesses said one gunman with gray hair and a gray beard walked into the first floor of the library, shot the woman sitting at the front desk and then fired randomly at others.
The first victim was shot in the head, and six others were also seriously wounded, but the extent of injuries was not immediately known.
Another victim was taken to Salt Lake Regional Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the shoulder, and a third, reportedly a missionary, had a chest wound. An elderly woman was taken to University Hospital in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the head. She was shot near the left eye and the bullet was lodged in the back of her head, hospital officials said.
Emergency personnel said an additional 20 people may have been hurt during the ensuing chaos.
However, only seven trauma victims had been confirmed as of noon, said Richard Nash, LDS Hospital spokesman. Of those, three were in critical condition and the others in serious condition at various hospitals throughout the city. One victim was dead at the scene.
A suspect also was shot and killed during an exchange of gunfire with police, said Salt Lake Police Sgt. Ken Hanson. One police officer also suffered a minor gunshot wound.
Police SWAT teams were combing the building to determine whether another gunman was inside the building more than two hours after the shooting began.
Seventeen people on the second floor locked themselves inside when the shooting began and were evacuated unharmed early in the afternoon as SWAT teams combed the building. Police were skeptical of early suspicions that a second gunman was involved.
Salt Lake Mayor Deedee Corradini told reporters that a library security guard and a female patron had died of their wounds and the suspect had also died.
Salt Lake Police Chief Ruben Ortega said police had identified the gunman, who had a local address, a wife and children and prior criminal record, but they did not immediately release his name.
The gunman, who had exchanged gunfire with police, was taken out of the building to an ambulance parked in front of a nearby restaurant. Paramedics at first believed he might be wired with an explosive and the area was evacuated. Hanson said he died in the ambulance and was not carrying explosives.
The library and adjacent buildings, including a hotel and Temple Square, were evacuated as gunfire continued an hour after the shooting began. At one point in the morning, police reported that people were still trapped in the upper floors of the building.
Police also evacuated the Triad Center at 300 W. South Temple, and officials locked down the LDS Church Office Building.
The shooting occurred at a particularly busy time for the library as hundreds of people were in town for the annual conference of the Utah Genealogical Association at the Salt Palace.
Dee Kepp, an employee in the library's acquisitions department, said she was in the lobby when the shooting started. A man armed with a handgun fired several shots just outside the bathrooms on the first floor and then returned to the lobby, she said.
"He was holding a gun and just shooting," said Kepp, who was visibly shaken as she sat on a curb away from the building. "He didn't say anything, he was just shooting."
Kepp, too shaken to move into a nearby JB's Restaurant where witnesses were being taken, remained outside, comforted by fellow employees. She told officers the gunman had a pistol and said she heard a popping sound.
"I'm not up to it," Kepp, trembling, told officers when they probed her for further information.
"He didn't say anything. He just came in and started shooting people," said Margaret Kane, who was at the library, directly across the street from Temple Square, when the man opened fire.
"He just looked intent on what he was doing. He came to do what he was doing," said Kane, who huddled under a desk in the first-floor research area as the man roamed the lobby and adjacent classrooms. "I did not hear him say anything. He didn't call out, no names or anything. He just kept his hand held out pointing at people."
The gunman reloaded and continued firing, she said.
"It sounded like a piece of equipment -- like a staple gun," said Jean Thomas, a co-worker of Kepp's who was on the third floor at the time of the shooting.
Floyd McGregor and his mother Phyllis Turner, visiting from California, were several footsteps away from entering the building when the first shots rang out. A person in front of them, who had just gone through the door, ran back out.
Then, "I just yelled for my mom to start running," said McGregor, who hurried his 65-year-old mother down the sidewalk to safety.
McGregor said he was told by employees from the building that the gunman may have been the same individual who went into Temple Square on Wednesday evening and "was raising a ruckus."
However, police later said that while the two incidents may have been related, the description of the man involved did not match that of the shooter.
McGregor and Turner said they heard three quick shots, followed about four seconds later by three more shots. They did not see the gunman or anyone believed to be injured.
Police evacuated a one block area around the building because of fears that the gunman or gunmen may have been able to fire through windows. As late as an hour after the shooting, officers were considering removing emergency response crews from the immediate area out of concern for their safety, said Salt Lake Police Lt. Phil Kirk.
Kirk said about 30 people were still inside the library an hour and a half after the incident began.
Police are also investigating whether the shooter was the same man who went to KSL Broadcast House Thursday morning and demanded to go on air with complaints about the LDS Church.
KSL receptionist Colleen Mirci, who was threatened in a recent shooting at KSL-TV headquarters, said a man about 5 feet, 5 inches tall, with bushy hair and mustache, was waiting for her when she went to work at the Triad Center in downtown Salt Lake early Thursday.
"He said he wanted to go on the news. He said he was very angry at the church," Mirci said.
She hasn't seen a photograph of the person involved in the shooting at the library, "but they think it may be the guy that came in."
The man told Mirci he was a transient and eventually left KSL when a Triad Department security officer arrived.
Three sisters were sitting on the first floor at a table doing family history research when they heard some loud noises that sounded like firecrackers.
"It was after about four or five of those that somebody yelled out, 'Get under the table,' " said Ginger Franz, of Sandy. "A man's voice then told us to pull the chairs down over us."
They were concerned because a fourth sister was supposed to meet them there that morning and they couldn't find her.
Researcher Terry Wahe was on the second floor of the library when he heard shots fired. As he was coming down the stairs, he said he heard anywhere from eight to 20 shots.
Karen Platt, who was doing research at the librtary, said she heard the shots but at first thought she was mistaken. "When you first hear it, you think it sounds like a shot. But then you think it couldn't be possible," the St. George woman said. "It takes a while for people to come to terms with what is happening."
She said people inside the library were afraid and in tears.
Arden Apted, Kirkland, Wash., said he was within 10 feet of the gunman. "When he started popping, I hit the ground," he said. After crawling to his wife, he said he counted at least 16 more shots.
Adair Harding, Provo, said she saw a stocky man wearing a gray jacket moving toward the library entrance. "He was coming from the lunch room, popping his little gun. He just had his hand out. It wasn't real loud."
Jacklynn Nelson, West Valley City, a professional genealogical researcher, said, "We could see people down. There was one fellow's legs that were like when you get shot -- they were going funny."
Jordan School District spokesman Melinda Rock said 95 fourth-grade students from Heartland Elementary in West Jordan were on a field trip at the library. Teachers called the principal from the building on their cell phones to report all students, five teachers and a handful of parents on the field trip are safe and accounted for, Rock said.
The party was unable to immediately leave the building but were to do so as soon as possible. Crisis teams were at Heartland awaiting their return.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.