KSL Reports on Witnesses
These are some witness accounts to Thursday's shooting at the L.D.S. Church's Family History Library in downtown Salt Lake City.
"We could hear gunshots and that's all. We were sequestered in the special collections (area of the library), which is a small room, with the lights off and told to stay there. Everybody just came and locked the doors and told us we couldn't leave. And then we heard the gunshots."
"I heard a pop, pop, pop, and somebody said, 'Somebody's got a gun.' And there were people standing in the stairs and they turned and ran back up like he was coming up, so we all ran out. The emergency doors were all around back there, and we all ran, and they said, 'Get away from the building,' so we just ran out.
"Some of them were going in and locking themselves in the rooms.. the workers and people. You wonder, are they going to have to have security guys carrying weapons or are you going to have to have-- at the door where they come through-- detectors? What are people thinking nowadays? The shooting over at the t.v. station, and now this. You wonder, why these people want to take frustration out by killing people."
Irene Johnson, works on 3rd floor of library
"We had heard there was someone in the building shooting people, and we went out to look out the front window on the third floor, which gives a good view of the entrance to the library. And we saw ambulance men come, and they couldn't walk up to the door to get any victims. They had to crawl by the wall to stay out of the range of any fire.
"They crawled and they then dragged a man.. he'd been shot in the chest and it didn't look good. And there was a woman who came out, and she appeared to walk..
"It's awful. You sort of have this sense of security, and then this shatters it. I've been shot at before. I'm a refugee from another country and still when it comes home to you like this-- not very nice. When it's right in your own building where you feel reasonably safe, it's a nasty, nasty feeling. And it's a little confusing, to put it mildly."
"I was at home and my friends called me and said 'You have to watch the news.' And they were talking about someone being shot. I was like, 'Well, what's going on?' And they said there's a shooting at the Family History Library. And I just freaked out, because that's where my mom works. So I was concerned about her.
"We went back to school and were watching t.v. and trying to find out more information. I came down here (Abravanel Hall) and found my mom, and I am so relieved. But this is just horrible. I just hugged her and started bawling. I'm just glad she's okay, but I'm sorry for all the other families who have to go through losing someone."
