http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1999/6-Hurt-in-Mormon-Library-Shooting/id-0fb11ef6bf557e0d3c4591e975056def
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The following appears courtesy of today's Associated Press news wire:
April 15, 1999, AP, 6 Hurt in Mormon Library Shooting, by Paul Foy,
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Two gunmen opened fire at the Mormon church's Family History Library today, wounding at least six people.
Police said one gunman was in custody but another was still inside the building more than 90 minutes after the 10:30 a.m. shooting began.
"This is more dangerous than we were originally aware of," said Salt Lake police Lt. Phil Kirk. "There is more than one gunman."
"He's contained, but not detained," Kirk said. "We've got him surrounded. Our SWAT team is likely to make an arrest here shortly."
One or more officers may have shot one of the gunmen, he said, "But we don't know. We haven't gone in yet."
He said at least six were injured, including an officer. These are "very serious injuries for a few of them, life-threatnening injuries," Kirk said.
Lyman Platt, a genealogist, said a gunman entered the library and quickly fired off a dozen rounds.
"He came in the lobby and shot a lady in the head and two or three other men," Platt said.
Said Jaqueline Nelson, a researcher who was working on the first floor:
"We heard a pop and somebody said 'Everybody get down.' There were 10 or 12 pops and somebody yelled 'Somebody's shooting!"
Police Sgt. Ken Hansen said the suspect who was still at large matched the description of a man who entered the building Wednesday evening and was "very upset about something and left the building very unhappy."
He didn't know what the man was unhappy about.
Shots were fired as much as 45 minutes after officers arrived on the scene, he said.
Hansen said the injured officer was not seriously hurt.
One man was in critical condition at LDS Hospital and four more people were being transported, said spokesman Richard Nash. A church spokesman had no additional details.
One woman who had been shot in the head was transported to University of Utah Hospital and was being evaluated, said spokesman John Dwan. Salt Lake Regional Medical Center treated two women, both in stable condition.
The library, one of the world's top centers for genealogical research, is directly across the street from Temple Square, site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Salt Lake Temple and Tabernacle. According to a church Web site, it has more than 2 million rolls of microfilm copies of census and other records from more than 100 countries.
The church has been involved in genealogy since its founding nearly 170 years ago. The church amasses the records for what it calls the baptism of the dead. Mormons believe that such baptisms give the dead the opportunity to join the Mormon church in the afterlife.
AP-NY-04-15-99
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The following appears courtesy of today's Associated Press news wire:
April 15, 1999, AP, 3 Die in Mormon Library Shooting, by Paul Foy
SALT LAKE CITY (April 15) - Two people were killed and four others were shot today by a gunman who entered the Mormon church's Family History Library and began firing before being fatally wounded by police.
Police SWAT teams were combing the building to determine whether another
gunman was inside the building more than two hours after the 10:30 a.m. shooting began.
Thirty people remained on the second floor and it was feared they were being held by a second gunman. But they later told police by telephone they had locked themselves in a room, said Salt Lake police Lt. Phil Kirk.
Mayor Deedee Corradini told reporters that a library security guard and a female patron had died of their wounds and the unidentified suspect had also died.
Some of the shooting victims received ''very serious injuries for a few of them, life-threatening injuries,'' Kirk said.
The gunman, who had exchanged gunfire with police, was taken out of the building to a Gold Cross ambulance parked in front of a nearby restaurant, but paramedics believed he might be wired with an explosive and the area was evacuated. He died in the ambulance and police Sgt. Ken Hansen said he
had no explosives.
Lyman Platt of St. George, a genealogist, said a gunman entered the library and quickly fired off a dozen rounds.
''He came in the lobby and shot a lady in the head and two or three other men,'' Platt said.
''We heard a pop and somebody said 'everybody get down.' There were 10 or 12 pops and somebody yelled somebody's shooting,'' said Jaqueline Nelson, a researcher who was working on the first floor.
''We saw one fellow's legs doing that thing like you do on TV (twitching) and then the shooting started again,'' she said.
Hansen said the dead suspect did not match the description of a man who entered the building Wednesday evening and was ''very upset about something and left the building very unhappy.''
Shots were fired as much as 45 minutes after officers arrived on the scene, at first leading police to believe there might be a second gunman.
LDS Hospital spokeswoman Christa Powell said a total of seven people were shot and the hospital was told to prepare for 13 others who had received lesser injuries.
One man was in critical condition at LDS Hospital with a gunshot wound to the chest, said spokesman Richard Nash.
One woman who had been shot in the head was transported to University of Utah Hospital and was being evaluated, said spokesman John Dwan.
The Salt Lake Regional Medical Center was treating two women, both in stable condition. A woman in her 80s was being treated for a facial wound, a woman in her mid-40s was being treated for a shoulder wound, said spokesman Doug Jackson.
The library, one of the world's top centers for genealogical research, is directly across the street from Temple Square, site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Salt Lake Temple and Tabernacle.
An international genealogical convention had attracted heavy traffic to the library, which has two floors below ground level and three above.
Don Russell of the church's public affairs department said that at 9:45 a.m., the two alleged suspects went into the building and talked to missionaries Lynette Kim and Jamie Turner.
The two women were being debriefed in the Tabernacle.
A KSL employee, Tamara Orr, said a man matching the description of a suspect asked her for directions to the Family History Library earlier this morning. The bearded man appeared to be in his late 50s, with gray hair and wearing disheveled clothes.
The man drove a yellow moving truck, which KSL Television reported was being investigated by a police bomb squad early this afternoon. The truck was parked near the station, three blocks west of the history library.
A bomb squad was searching the three-block area between the Triad Center, where KSL is located, and the library.
Ninety-five elementary school students inside the building when the firing erupted were all safe and accounted for, police said.
AP-NY-04-15-99
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The following appears courtesy of the 4/15/99 online edition of The Salt Lake City Deseret News newspaper:
Thursday, April 15, 1999
LDS library shooting leaves three dead, including one suspect, by the Deseret News staff
One or possibly two gunmen opened fire on people 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.
Rescuers carry a victim of the shootings out on a stretcher after a gunman walked into the busy Family History Library and began firing.
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.
One 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 who had locked themselves inside when the shooting began were evacuated unharmed early Thursday afternoon as SWAT teams continued to search the building, said Police Chief Ruben Ortega. Police were skeptical of early suspicions that a second gunman was involved.
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.
Ortega said police had identified the gunman, who had a local address, 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, but paramedics believed he might be wired with an explosive and the area was evacuated. He died in the ambulance and Hanson said he had no 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.
Police race toward the Family History Library, where at least one gunman was inside.
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.
"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.
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Follow story at
http://www.desnews.com/
http://www.sltrib.com/
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Apr 15, 1999, The Herald-Journal - Associated Press, Gunmen target LDS site,
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - At least seven people, including a police officer, were shot today when two gunmen entered the Mormon church's Family History Library and began firing, police and witnesses said.
Police said one gunman was wounded and in custody but another was still inside the building more than 90 minutes after the 10:30 a.m. shooting began.
"This is more dangerous than we were originally aware of," said Salt Lake police Lt. Phil Kirk. "There is more than one gunman."
Some of the victims received "very serious injuries for a few of them, life-threatnening injuries," Kirk said.
The wounded gunman was taken out of the building to a Gold Cross ambulance parked in front of a nearby restaurant, but paramedics believed he might be wired with an explosive and the area was evacuated, Kirk said.
He said the gunman was "in very, very serious condition."
Lyman Platt of St. George, a genealogist, said a gunman entered the library and quickly fired off a dozen rounds.
"He came in the lobby and shot a lady in the head and two or three other men," Platt said.
"We heard a pop and somebody said 'everybody get down.' There were 10 or 12 pops and somebody yelled somebody's shooting," said Jaqueline Nelson, a researcher who was working on the first floor.
"We saw one fellow's legs doing that thing like you do on TV (twitching) and then the shooting started again," she said.
Police Sgt. Ken Hansen said the second suspect matched the description of a man who entered the building Wednesday evening and was "very upset about something and left the building very unhappy."
The suspect in custody was not the man believed to have entered the library Wednesday night, Hansen said.
Shots were fired as much as 45 minutes after officers arrived on the scene, also lending credence to the belief there might be a second gunman, he said.
LDS Hospital spokeswoman Christa Powell said a total of seven people were shot and the hospital was told to prepare for 13 others who had received lesser injuries.
One man was in critical condition at LDS Hospital, said spokesman Richard Nash.
One woman who had been shot in the head was transported to University of Utah Hospital and was being evaluated, said spokesman John Dwan.
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"The Firing Line" Forum
Gwinnydapooh
April 15, 1999, 08:41 PM
Here's all I know:
At noon today there was a report on Fox News that a "sniper" had shot seven people in Salt Lake City. At the time he was still on the loose and they didn't know anything else.
At 12:20, when I left for school, the man had been trapped inside the Family History Library of the Church of Latter-Day Saints by the Salt Lake City SWAT. He had not been captured and there was supposedly reason to believe there might be two BG's.
The description of the original event that was given at the time, from a 911 call, was as follows:
A "white male in camouflage clothing" and wearing a backpack walked into the Family History Library and opened fire, wounding at least 5-6 people. Apparently, many people got away as the man was trying to retrieve more ammunition from the backpack. Eventually the police arrived and sent in SWAT, who managed to "contain" the BG in the building. At that point they cut away and I had to leave. I wanted to post this earlier but I forgot about the UBB upgrade.
What do other forumites know about this horrifying affair?
MGB
The 71 year old gunman entered the Family History Library and opened up on library patrons. He killed an elderly patron and a church security guard before he was killed by police. He also wounded seven others. The gunman was a schitzo who was not taking his medicine.
The mayor has already gone on record with the promise to come up with ways to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.
An interesting note is the state legislature amended the state CCW laws to allow churches to ban concealed weapons an their premises. Somewhat ironic, don't you think? Those who do this kind of thing don't care what the law is. Think I'll pack in church this Sunday in protest to these dumb laws. (The new law is not in effect yet)
As a side note, police thought that a Ryder truck parked two blocks away from teh shooting contained a OK City type bomb and was somehow connected to the shooting. Turned out to be a false call.
Gwinnydapooh
Thanks MGB.
It's an ugly world. My cooperating teacher says it's because people blow off the power of satanism and evil. Whatever, it's terrible.
Too bad nobody was armed. I wonder if even that security guard was carrying anything but a radio?
Byron Quick
The security guard was probably just carrying a radio and perhaps handcuffs. I was confronted while carrying concealed by a security guard once. After we straightened out his misperception, I suggested he complete certification for carrying a firearm on the job or find another line of work. Unarmed security guards are nothing but targets of opportunity for criminals.
Morgan
Swingcatt - this wasn't your normal church, but a HUGE geneaology library. You see, the Mormon church believes one can be converted after death, which has led to the largest collection of historical genealogy in the world. Kind of neat because, even if you're not a Mormon, you can research your own family.
Alas, my father's family's records died in the Chicago fire, so everything before that is speculation. I haven't started on my mother's side yet.
The big tragedy here is that innocent people died, and the mayor is already calling for more "gun control." A shame nobody else in the library was armed - could have ended this much sooner, and shown the world why concealed carry works.
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April 15, 1999, The Washington Post, Three Die in Mormon Library Shooting, Archived
<Three Die in Mormon Library Shooting
 |
| Paramedics transport a shooting victim who was killed after a gunman opened fire at a Mormon library.(AP Photo) |
Thursday, April 15, 1999; 4:01 p.m. EDT
SALT LAKE CITY -- A gunman walked into the famed genealogical centre of the Mormon Church on Thursday and opened fire on six people, killing two of them, police said.
The gunman himself also died from gunshot wounds, but police said they did not know if he was shot or died from self-inflicted wounds from his small-calibre weapon.
Police continued to search the library because they did not know if the gunman had an accomplice. "There's still a threat of explosives," at the library, Lt. Phil Kirk said.
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.
Ortega said police had identified the gunman, who had a local address, 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, but paramedics believed he might be wired with an explosive and the area was evacuated. He died in the ambulance and police Sgt. Ken Hansen said he had no explosives.
Hansen said the four wounded included a police officer. The wounds were not believed to be life-threatening, he said.
Lyman Platt, a genealogist, said a gunman entered the library and quickly fired off a dozen rounds.
"He came in the lobby and shot a lady in the head and two or three other men," Platt said.
Jaqueline Nelson, a researcher who was working on the first floor, said: "We heard a pop and somebody said 'Everybody get down.' There were 10 or 12 pops and somebody yelled 'Somebody's shooting!'"
Shots were fired as much as 45 minutes after officers arrived on the scene, at first leading police to believe there might be a second gunman.
Family History, the largest genealogical library in the world, is directly across the street from Temple Square, site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Salt Lake Temple and Tabernacle. According to a church Web site, it has more than 2 million rolls of microfilm copies of census and other records from more than 100 countries.
An international genealogical convention had attracted heavy traffic to the library, which has two floors below ground level and three above. Some 250 people -- patrons and employees -- are in the building on a typical day.
A KSL-TV employee, Tamara Orr, said a man matching the description of a suspect asked her for directions to the Family History Library earlier this morning. The man, who appeared to be in his late 50s, was bearded and wore disheveled clothes.
The man drove a yellow moving truck, which KSL reported was being investigated by a police bomb squad early this afternoon. The truck was parked near the station, three blocks west of the history library.
The church has been involved in genealogy since its founding nearly 170 years ago. The church amasses the records for what it calls the baptism of the dead. Mormons believe that such baptisms give the dead the opportunity to join the Mormon church in the afterlife.
© Copyright 1999 The Associated Press Archived
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Friday, April 16, 1999 Published at 01:24 GMT 02:24 UK
World: Americas
Fatal shootout at Mormon library
Police marksmen surround the building
Two people have been killed and another four injured after a gunman ran amok in the Mormon Family History Library near the church's headquarters in Salt Lake City.The gunman, reported to have a local address, fired at seven people before police shot him dead.
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| A victim is hurried to safety |
The dead gunman's body was being held in an ambulance near to the scene as police investigated the possibility that he was wired with explosives.
Salt Lake City's Mayor Deedee Corradini told reporters that a library security guard and a female library patron had died of their wounds.
Police teams have been combing the building investigating rumours that a second gunman was inside the genealogical library two hours after shooting began.
Gunman traps 20
Around 20 people were trapped inside the library while the shooting began, according to local radio stations.
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| The Mormon Temple: Across the road from library |
According to a tourist at the scene of the shooting, the gunman appeared to be relaxed, passing by some people he could easily have shot.
"We heard a pop and somebody said `Everybody get down'," said Jaqueline Nelson, a researcher who was working on the first floor.
"There were 10 or 12 pops and somebody yelled 'Somebody's shooting'."
Shots were still being fired up to 45 minutes after officers arrived on the scene, leading police to believe there might be a second gunman.
Mormon records
The Mormon religion, or Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints', has been involved in genealogy since its founding nearly 170 years ago.
The church keeps records for what it calls the baptism of the dead.
The Family History library is the largest genealogical library in the world and, according to a church Website, it contains more than 2 million rolls of microfilm, copies of census and other records from more than 100 countries.
Mormons believe that the baptisms give the dead the opportunity to join the Mormon church in the afterlife.
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April 16, 1999, New York Post, Crazed Utah Gunman Kills 2 In Mormon Library, by Tracy Connor
4:00am
Man fitting gunman’s description “said he was very angry at the church.”
TV STATION EMPLOYEE COLLEEN MIRCI
A deranged gunman blasted away inside a Mormon library in Utah yesterday – killing two people and wounding five others before Salt Lake City cops ended the bloodbath by shooting him dead.
Police were investigating whether the assailant is the same man who marched into a local TV station earlier in the day, demanding air time for his rants about Mormons.
Bomb experts also were examining the yellow van the gunman was driving, and officials said there were “strong indications” it was booby-trapped with explosives.
“It’s a dangerous situation,” Lt. Phil Kirk said.
The terror began at 10:30 a.m. local time, when the gunman stalked into the Family History Library, a world-renowned genealogy research center, and methodically squeezed off a dozen rounds.
“We heard a pop and somebody said, ‘Everybody get down.’ There were 10 or 12 pops and somebody yelled, ‘Somebody’s shooting!’” said Jacqueline Nelson, a researcher working on the first floor.
The bearded, bushy-haired gunman – wearing baggy pants and a long jacket – fatally shot a woman visitor at the front desk and a security guard at point-blank range.
Then he began roaming the lobby and adjacent room, firing at random, pausing to reload his small-caliber handgun.
“I was scared to death,” said witness Margaret Kane, who huddled under a desk.
“He just looked intent on what he was doing. He came to do what he was doing,” she said. “He didn’t call out … he just kept his hand held out, pointing at people.”
Investigators did not release the man’s name, but said he was a married father with a criminal record who lived in the area.
They said they had no motive, but a man fitting the shooter’s description visited a Salt Lake City’s KSL-TV before the shooting and railed about Mormons.
“He said he wanted to go on the news,” receptionist Colleen Mirci told Salt Lake City’s Desert News. “He said he was very angry at the church.”
The gunman may also have stopped at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints’ Salt Lake Temple and Tabernacle across the street from the library.
CBS News reported he walked in at about 9:45 a.m. and spoke with two missionaries – then left and asked for directions to the library, the largest of its kind in the world.
The five-floor facility was twice as crowded as usual because of a genealogical convention in town and a visit by 95 local fourth-graders.
The first sign of trouble was a popping sound, like firecrackers or a staple gun.
“We heard two shots from the other side of the glass partition. At that point three of us hit the ground,” said Arden Apted, a visitor from Washington state.
He and a security guard counted eight shots.
“And then the security guard said, ‘Wait, I see him reloading,’” Apted said.
Dozens of people cowered under tables and chairs, and about 30 people locked themselves in a room for several hours – temporarily leading police to believe a second gunman might be barricaded inside.
Cops who stormed the library shot the gunman an unknown number of times.
He was carried out around noon, and died in the ambulance. A police officer was wounded in the gunfight.
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April 16, 1999, New York Post, Crazed Utah Gunman, 71, Kills 2 In Mormon Library Rampage, by Tracy Connor
4:00am
Man fitting gunman’s description “said he was very angry at the church.”
TV STATION EMPLOYEE COLLEEN MIRCI
A 71-year-old schizophrenic with a gun blasted away inside a Mormon genealogical library in Utah yesterday – killing two people and wounding five others before Salt Lake City cops ended the bloodbath by shooting him dead.
Russian immigrant Sergei Babarin stalked into the world-famous Family History Library at 10:30 a.m. local time and methodically squeezed off a dozen rounds from a small-caliber pistol, then reloaded and fired some more, police said.
“He is apparently schizophrenic and hasn’t been taking his medication,” Mayor Deedee Corradini said.
Babarin lived with his wife at a local senior center and police said it wasn’t clear what set him off.
“We heard a pop and somebody said, ‘Everybody get down!’ There were 10 or 12 pops and somebody yelled, ‘Somebody’s shooting!’” said Jacqueline Nelson, a researcher working on the first floor.
The bearded, bushy-haired gunman – wearing baggy pants and a long jacket – fatally shot a woman visitor at the front desk and a security guard at point-blank range.
Then he began roaming the lobby and adjacent rooms, firing at random, pausing to reload his weapon.
“I was scared to death,” said witness Margaret Kane, who huddled under a desk.
“He just looked intent on what he was doing. He came to do what he was doing,” she said. “He didn’t call out … he just kept his hand held out, pointing at people.”
The five-floor facility was twice as crowded as usual because of a genealogical convention in town and a visit by 95 fourth-graders.
The first sign of trouble was the popping sound, like firecrackers or a staple gun.
“We heard two shots from the other side of the glass partition. At that point three of us hit the ground,” said Arden Apted, a visitor from Washington state.
Dozens of people cowered under tables and chairs, and 17 people locked themselves in a room for several hours – temporarily leading police to believe a second gunman might be barricaded inside.
Cops who stormed the library got into a firefight with Babarin. He hunkered down in an office, but was shot by police.
Babarin was taken out to an ambulance and later died.
A police officer was wounded in the gunfight.
Police did not immediately identify the two people killed.
Cops said the wounded included an elderly man shot in the chest, a 71-year-old woman shot in the head, a 45-year-old woman and an 80-year-old woman.
Cops said Babarin was arrested in 1995 after he got into a fight at a local department store. Babarin had been carrying a handgun and was charged with assault and weapons possession.
Cops had thought a yellow van parked near the library belonged to Babarin and may have been rigged with explosives.
But after blasting a hole in the van’s side, they discovered that it belonged to another man with no connection to the gunman.
Police were also investigating whether the assailant is the same man who marched into a local TV station earlier in the day, demanding air time for his rants about Mormons.
They said a man fitting the shooter’s description visited KSL-TV before the shooting and railed about Mormons.
“He said he wanted to go on the news,” receptionist Colleen Mirci told Salt Lake City’s Desert News. “He said he was very angry at the church.”
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April 16, 1999, San Francisco Chronicle, 3 Die in Attack At Mormon Family History Library in Utah;
Suspect found fatally shot after killing guard, visitor
Washington Post
Published 4:00 am, Friday, April 16, 1999
1999-04-16 04:00:00 PDT Salt Lake City-- A gunman walked into the Mormon Church's world famous Family History Library yesterday and opened fire, killing two people and wounding four others before being shot dead in an exchange of gunfire with police.
Mayor Deedee Corradini told reporters that a library security guard and a visitor died of their wounds along with the gunman, who police said was a local resident with a prior criminal record.
The gunman was identified as Sergei Babarin, 70, who, police said, had been arrested four years ago with a .22-caliber pistol during an altercation but never charged. Police said they had not determined a motive for the shooting.
Authorities identified one of the two dead victims as Donald Thomas, 62, a library security guard. An unidentified woman visiting the library was also killed.
"This is a very, very sad situation for our city," a shaken Corradini told reporters. "We're concerned about safety in our city."
The fact that such an act of violence could occur literally within the shadow of the Mormon Tabernacle -- regarded as a mecca by millions of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worldwide -- stunned this normally placid desert community. But Corradini said, "We're a major city with major-city problems."
Margaret Kane, a witness to the shootings, said, "One fellow with a gun in his outstretched hand just came in and began indiscriminately shooting people. He walked down to the classroom area and shot another fellow and then shot through the windows into the research area."
"We just hit the ground," said Arden Apted, another witness. "I crashed around a bank of computers."
Jaqueline Nelson, a researcher who was working on the first floor, said she heard a "pop" and then shouts warning library employees and patrons to get down. "There were 10 or 12 pops, and somebody yelled, 'Somebody's shooting,' " Nelson told reporters on the scene. Another witness, Lynn Platt, a genealogist, said a gunman entered the library and quickly fired a dozen rounds. "He came in the lobby and shot a lady in the head and two or three other men," Platt said.
Salt Lake Police Chief Ruben Ortega said 17 people who were on the library's second floor when the shooting began at 10:30 a.m. locked themselves inside and hid under desks and behind shelves. They were evacuated unharmed several hours later as a SWAT team combed the building looking for what then was believed to be a second gunman. Police later said that the early suspicions of a second gunman appeared to be unfounded.
The gunman, who exchanged fire with police, was taken out of the downtown Salt Lake City building to an ambulance parked nearby. But paramedics were reported to have been hesitant about taking him to a hospital because they believed that he might be wired with explosives. Authorities later said the suspect, who died in the ambulance, had no explosives.
Police Sergeant Ken Hansen said the four wounded included a police officer, who was not immediately identified. He said the officer's wound was not life-threatening.
Hansen told reporters that the suspect matched the description of a man who entered the library Wednesday evening and was "very upset about something and left the building very unhappy." He said he did not know what had agitated the man.
The library, one of the world's leading centers for genealogical research, is directly across the street from Temple Square, site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' architecturally imposing Salt Lake Temple and Tabernacle. It has two floors below ground and three above.
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Post-Tribune (IN)
April 16, 1999 Gunman kills 2 in Utah library, by Tom Kenworthy
'There were 10 or 12 pops and somebody yelled, "Somebody's shooting"'
A gunman walked into the Mormon Church's world famous Family History Library and opened fire Thursday, killing two people and wounding five others before being shot dead in an exchange of gunfire with police.
Mayor Deedee Corradini told reporters that a library security guard and a female visitor died of their wounds along with the gunman, who police said was a local resident with a prior criminal record. The gunman was identified as Sergei Barbarin, 70, who police said had been arrested four years ago with a . …
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April 16, 1999, The Birmingham Post, Two die in shooting at Mormon church,
April 16, 1999, The Mirror (London) Library nut murders 2, by Ian Miller,
April 16, 1999, Treatment Advocacy Center Press Release, Utah Must Have Stronger Treatment Laws to Prevent Tragedies, by Mary T. Zdanowicz, Archived
April 16, 1999, Post-Tribune (IN), Gunman Kills 2, Wounds 5 in Mormon Church Library,
April 16, 1999, Wilmington Morning Star - Washington Post, page 3A, Gunman kills 2 in Utah library, by Tom Kenworthy,
Utah Must Have Stronger Treatment Laws to Prevent Tragedies
STATEMENT
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April 17, 1999, New York Times, Crackdown on Schizophrenics Is Urged After Utah Shooting, by James Brooke, Archived
April 17, 1999Crackdown on Schizophrenics Is Urged After Utah ShootingBy JAMES BROOKE ALT LAKE CITY -- For the second time in three months, this conservative city grappled Friday with news that a schizophrenic resident who refused to take medication had walked up to strangers and shot them dead.
Police spokesmen and advocates for the mentally ill called for barring gun sales to people with histories of severe mental illness and for laws mandating that schizophrenics take their medicine.
The gunman, Sergei Babarin, 70, killed two people and wounded five others at a genealogical library before dying in a gun battle with the police on Thursday, the authorities said.
His widow and son said Friday that he had refused to take his medication for schizophrenia since December.
Only three months ago, on Jan. 13, De-Kieu Duy, a woman who also had a history of schizophrenia, entered an office complex three blocks away from Thursday's killings at Temple Square, the heart of the Mormon Church, and shot to death an AT&T employee, the police say.
The killings are only the latest involving schizophrenics who refuse to take their medicine. These cases, the police say, include a man who pushed a young woman in front of a subway train in New York in January, a man who stabbed to death his pregnant fiancée last June at their home in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., and a Montana man who killed two police officers at the United States Capitol last summer.
The Treatment Advocacy Center, which seeks mandatory medication laws, says Americans with untreated severe mental illnesses commit nearly 1,000 homicides a year.
"People who are having severe mental illness problems should be prevented from buying a weapon," Lieut. Phil Kirk, a police spokesman here, said, noting that Mr. Barbarin and Ms. Duy had previously been arrested for misdemeanor offenses involving weapons. Referring to a Federal law requiring background checks for felonies before guns may be sold, he said, "The Brady bill should be extended to misdemeanors involving weapons offenses."
In 1995, Mr. Babarin was arrested here after he punched a 73-year-old man in a department store restroom, then tried to bite him on the face, the police said. At the time, he was carrying a loaded .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon, and the police carried out a court order to destroy his gun. Today, Lieutenant Kirk said the police were trying to learn how Mr. Barbarin got a new weapon.
With surveys indicating that two-thirds of Utah adults own firearms, mental health advocates say more money should be spent on insuring that schizophrenics take their medicine, prescription drugs that often allow them to lead normal lives.
"All I am hearing today is how we need to keep guns away from the mentally ill," said Vickie Cottrell, executive director of the Utah chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, a nonprofit advocacy group. "Well, how about getting the medication to the mentally ill?"
In Utah, medication is only mandatory if mentally ill people pose an immediate danger to themselves or to others. Mrs. Cottrell, whose daughter has brought her schizophrenia under control with medication, said: "I know of too many families who have tried to get their loved one in a hospital. Too many times, terrible things happen."
Only last month, the Utah Legislature rejected pleas by mental health advocates to finance a system that would provide medical monitoring of severely mentally ill people who are released from hospitals and prisons.
Mr. Barbarin's son, Alex, said he had asked doctors for help with his father, but was told that state laws limited involuntary commitment to people who posed an imminent danger.
"It's an unreasonable liberty with people who need help," he told The Deseret News here. "You must be more preventive, because one mentally ill person can damage so many lives -- not because he intends to, but because he can't help it."
Sergei Babarin, a toolmaker who emigrated from Leningrad, Russia, to New York in 1981, had displayed odd behavior after moving here a decade ago, the police said.
Mark Zelig of the Salt Lake Police said Mr. Babarin had thought his son was a spy for the Central Intelligence Agency and last year attacked a bicyclist by sticking an umbrella in his wheel spokes. Mr. Barbarin was not charged in that incident.
"He would say 'Heil Hitler and I hate America,' " a neighbor said on Thursday at the the apartment complex for the elderly where he lived. "He could've been helped mentally, but somebody failed."
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