SALT LAKE CITY -- Sunday marked 10 years since a mass shooting at Trolley Square in Salt Lake City left five bystanders dead and four others wounded.
The community came together around the time the shooting took place, to hold a vigil, remember and grieve.
An 18-year old suspect had opened fire at Trolley Square the evening of February 12, 2007, and he was only stopped when an off-duty police officer stepped in and fired back and other responding officers shot and killed the man.
The whole ordeal only lasted six minutes, but in those minutes, so many lives were changed forever.
It may have been a full decade now, but the emotions were still just as raw as dozens lit candles and shed tears.
Several speakers who knew the five victims spoke of their loved ones, choking up as they talked of memories and the lives lost.
Grief and sorrow filled the room.
Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder also spoke, recounting how he responded to the shooting that night.
“It was terrifying, and it was very emotional,” he said.
Addressing the audience in tears, he made a plea to carry on the memories of the victims and support the families affected—not just from the Trolley Square shooting but all victims of violence.
“We should never forget the pain and suffering of individuals who suffer due to violence,” he said.
Sheriff Winder’s cousin, Carolyn Tuft, was spending a fun evening with her teenage daughter Kirsten Hinckley the night of the shooting.
She heard Kirsten’s last words, and watched her daughter breath her last breaths.
“I live in chronic pain but I also live with the memories of watching him kill her,” Tuft said. “It haunts me every day.”
Tuft was also shot by the 18-year old suspect, and described being in constant physical agony from her injuries.
She is now turning what she experienced that day, and her own pain, into change through the gun safety group, Mom’s Demand Action.
“We are advocating for safe, sensible gun legislation that will protect the community,” she explained.
Gun safety was a huge topic at the vigil Sunday night, and Tuft said their goal is to save lives and prevent another tragedy like this so no one else has to experience this suffering.
