(4/16/99)

The Salt Lake City police department had help from all over the state yesterday. And when the emergency call came in-- they were words that no officer wants to hear. News Specialist Lisa Conley reports.

Police Dispatch Tapes: "Beep, beep, beep. Report of shooting just occured. Number 35 North West Temple. Report of three people down by the Family History Library."

The call was dispatched at 10:32 yesterday morning. Just two minutes later, Salt Lake City police were on the scene.

Tapes: "Have the officer bring paramedics immediately! One woman with a head wound, two others down!"

Captain Scott Folsom, the S.L.C. Police Department incident commander says, "We instituted the incident command system and started working closely with the other agencies who were coming to help us."

In fact, more than 15 agencies from around the state pitched in to help.

Police, bomb squads, and paramedics responded...even Salt Lake City Airport police were there.

In South Salt Lake, off duty officers rushed to help.

Detective David Browning of the South Salt Lake Police Department says, "We are a community, very solid. When the chips are down, people don't just drive by and thumb their nose. They're right there to help. We see that time and time again."

Even with all the help though, the police dispatch tapes tell a story of tense and unsure moments.

Tape: "Keep the pedestrian traffic contained! We're trying to get the wounded out of here...we still have not contained the shooter!"

But, eventually, police were able to corner the suspect. Tape: "10-4. We have him contained in a room...one suspect."

Only moments later, the suspect was dead.

In the aftermath, police say it was a hectic day, but in the end, officers responded quickly and effectively.

One detective said while it was a sad day for Salt Lake City, there were reasons yesterday for the city to be proud of it's police department.