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Off-duty SLC firefighter assists victims after finding himself amid deadly Sandy shooting

Posted at 5:53 PM, Jun 08, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-09 08:21:09-04

SANDY, Utah – An off-duty firefighter happened to be driving through a Sandy neighborhood Tuesday when several shots were fired. Salt Lake City Fire Captain Tony Allred recounted the moments he sprang into action.

He was driving his 8-year-old daughter to gymnastics when traffic got backed up on Alta Canyon Drive.

“I saw a male come around an SUV and I heard another very loud shot, and the male was down, and that's when I knew it was a shooting scene, not just a car accident," Allred said.

Worried a shooter might still be out there, Allred parked his car away from the scene and left his daughter and dog inside.

A woman approached him and told him there were two kids inside an SUV who had been shot. They were brothers, 6-year-old Jase and 11-year-old Myles Rackley.

“I could see that there were no signs of life with the younger boy,” Allred said.

“You could tell that Myles was super scared, but super determined," Allred continued. "I was coaching him on breathing and he was paying very close attention.”

Paramedics arrived minutes later and transported Myles to the hospital.

Allred then helped emergency responders attend to a girl who was inside a nearby home. She had also been shot.

“She didn't appear on scene as serious as the other victims, she was speaking," Allred said.

Police would later confirm five people were shot. Three of them died, including 39 year-old Memorez Rackley and her son Jase.

They say Jeremy Patterson was the shooter and took his own life.

Allred says he was impressed with how Myles and the young girl remained calm through all of it. And even more amazed at how the community stepped in to help right away.

“As a father, if I wasn't with my son or daughter when something bad happened to them, I would want to know that there had been somebody with them, like, immediately. That there wasn't a big gap of time when Myles was alone," he said.

Anyone who would like to help the victims' family pay for funeral and memorial services is asked to send donations to the Rackley Memorial Fund at Mountain America Credit Union.