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Kindergartner, his mom & gunman killed, two children injured in Sandy shooting

Posted at 4:28 PM, Jun 06, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-07 14:32:47-04

SANDY, Utah — A kindergarten boy, his mother and the gunman were killed and two other children were injured in a shooting in a Sandy neighborhood Tuesday afternoon.

The shooting occurred around 3:45 p.m. on a street outside a residential area near 2300 E Alta Canyon Dr., according to Sandy Police.

"Preceding this event, what appears to have took place is a good Samaritan saw a female with two juveniles, stopped to help them, to transport them out of the area. During that time, the suspect actually rammed the good Samaritan's vehicle, bringing it to a stop in the roadway," said Sgt. Jason Nielsen, Sandy City Police Department. "[The] suspect exited his vehicle and [began] shooting."

Sandy Police identified the suspect as 32-year-old Jeremy Patterson of Draper. According to a statement issued Wednesday morning, Patterson shot 39-year-old Memorez Rackley, Rackley's two sons (ages six and nine), an eight-year-old daughter of the good Samaritan and himself.

Rackley, her six-year-old son and Patterson all died at the scene. Rackley's nine-year-old son and the eight-year-old victim were hospitalized.

"There's another juvenile male who's been transported to the hospital in critical condition and one juvenile female transported in stable [condition]," Nielsen said.

Police later said the boy was upgraded to stable condition.

The Canyons School District said the boy who died in the shooting was a kindergartner at Brookwood Elementary School.

Police have not released the identities of the victims at this time.

Residents in the area said they heard shots ring out through the normally quiet neighborhood.

"I heard the skid and the crash, then I heard gunshots like crazy," said Colby Corbett, who lives a few houses down from where the shooting took place. "I thought it was like a gun fight."

He said his son Anthony was walking home from nearby Brookwood Elementary School, so Corbett rushed outside and found his son safe in the driveway.

Brookwood, which had just let out classes ten minutes before the shooting, was placed on lockdown, according to the Canyons School District. The lockdown was lifted about an hour later.

The school district said many neighbors let students into their home to shelter-in-place until the area was deemed safe.

Andrea Workman said her son had just gotten off the school bus when he heard the shots. He called her at work.

"My son was yelling into the phone, 'Mom, there’s been a shooting! There’s been a shooting!'" Workman recounted.

She said she was concerned about the children walking home from the elementary school when the incident unfolded.

"We could have had kids walking up this hill, kids getting off of buses during all of this," she said.

Later Tuesday evening, a small group of Brookwood families and students hugged and cried in the school parking lot.

Grief counselors are on hand for the last day of school.