Posted on 02/16/2007 11:59:41 AM PST by 300magnum
SALT LAKE CITY - Police officers acted properly in gunning down a Bosnian teenager who shot five people to death in a mall crowded with shoppers, a prosecutor said Friday.
"They were legally justified in using deadly force," District Attorney Lohra Miller said.
Miller cleared four Salt Lake City officers who shot at the gunman.
Ogden Officer Ken Hammond, who was off-duty and out of uniform but armed as he had dinner with his wife, was the first to trade shots with Sulejman Talovic, 18, at the Trolley Square mall Monday, investigators have said.
Miller found no fault with Hammond, but his role was being reviewed by Weber County authorities because he does not work in Salt Lake County.
Salt Lake Police Chief Chris Burbank said his officers were expected to return to work within weeks.
Later Friday, the five officers were publicly saluted at the state Capitol by the Legislature and Gov. Jon Huntsman. Hammond was given a medal by his boss, Ogden Police Chief Jon Greiner, who also is a state senator.
"I feel bad that I didn't react sooner and prevent more loss of lives," Hammond told lawmakers. "But I'm also very thankful I was there."
Investigators have not determined a motive.
"I am so sorry to everybody. ... Who gave him the gun to shoot? I think someone influenced him to do this," said Talovic's father, Suljo Talovic, who with his family emigrated here in 1998.
Several thousand people from the Balkans have settled in the Salt Lake City area, many of them after fleeing ethnic violence in their homeland.
DA Miller gets the Captain Obvious award for the week.
They don't need to be 'justified' or 'cleared'. They were doing their job, whether it be taking down statements at the site of a minor car accident, or gunning down a brutal murderer.
Why can't people shut up, and let those assigned to protect the American people just do their jobs?
Well Duh.
Well, we have two Border Patrol officers doing time in a Federal Pen because they actually patrolled the border and returned fire when they were shot at, so......
This is the unfortunate part of a police officer's job. When he has to take a life. Even more unfortunate is the stress they must endure as a result of that duty in an investiagtion into the shooting even when it is obvious that the officers acted properly.
"Miller found no fault with Hammond, but his role was being reviewed by Weber County authorities because he does not work in Salt Lake County."
WTF?
Odd that neither of them testified that they were shot at...or that they were even positive that the guy they were chasing had a gun....but if you say so....
Regardless of who gave him a gun or whether he bought it himself, you raised a whack job!
The story I heard stated they returned fire. It may have been bad info. I didn't follow the trial.
Where he got the gun is certainly one of the many questions that need to be answered--but most likely will be covered up. I had assumed maybe it belonged to his family, but if not, then it should certainly be investigated.
As for motive, I'm afraid that's all too obvious. But his Muslim friends, possible accomplices, and the neighborhood mosques should also be looked into.
"Investigators have not determined a motive."
Yeah, right.
And the FBI has said that there is no Islamic Terrorism involved.
Reminds me of Lt. Frank Dreben from the movie Police Squad.
"Nope, nothing to see here,folks, just move along."
Could that be because they've refused to look in the correct direction?
The "Prophet" Mohammed, maybe?
The review better be whether he can be given a police medal event though he was off duty and not in his jurisdiction.
I'm not a LEO. I carry a gun on a daily basis. (See Tag) I go lots of places where I don't work or live. If some a-hole is randomly shotgunning people in a shopping mall and I then end his life, I would hope that my role wouldn't be reviewed just because I was out of my home county.
Medal? Give this man a parade!!
Impeach the D.A.
"Investigators have not determined a motive."
These so-called investigators are looking thru their peacetime lenses. If they put on wartime lenses they'd see the motive clearly: the dead shoppers were INFIDELS.
Semper Fi,
I always wondered why it Matters where he got the gun.
I always thought that was one of the last things we need to spend man hours on.
As it ever changed the out come of a shooting to know how the killer came by his weapon.
I always thought this is just a red herring to promote gun registration and more gun control.
So maybe you can tell me why it is important to know where his weapon came from.
So now those two were shot at? Next week, what? With a machine gun?
If he bought it legally, or through ordinary criminal channels, who cares? If he got it from a Muslim terrorist network, I think the connection is worth tracking down.
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