Last Monday evening, five shoppers were killed and four were seriously wounded by gunfire at the Trolley Square shopping mall in Salt Lake City. The shooter was a young man armed with a shotgun and handgun, wearing a backpack and bandoleer full of ammunition. The toll of dead and wounded would have been much higher were it not for the smartness and heroic action of an off-duty police officer.
Ken Hammond and his pregnant wife, Sarita, were sitting on a mall bench outside the restaurant where they had just finished dining. Hammond is an officer with the City of Ogden, which is north of Salt Lake City. Being off-duty, he was in civilian clothes, without body armor, and carrying a pistol with no extra ammo clips in his possession. When he heard gunfire and spotted the shooter, he sprang into action.
He instructed his wife to go back into the restaurant and tell the manager to lock the doors. He also told his wife to call "911" and give the operator a detailed description of what he looked like and what he was wearing while in pursuit of the shooter, so that he would not be mistaken for the perpetrator by any responding Salt Lake City officers.
He followed the shooter, identified himself, and ordered the man to drop his weapon. They exchanged several shots at a distance of 20 - 30 yards, He cornered the shooter and continued to keep him in sight so he could point him out to any responding officers. By his action, he placed himself in an extremely dangerous situation. He had only a few rounds of ammunition and he was not wearing any body armor. He could have been shot by the perpetrator, or worse, he could have been shot by Salt Lake City officers seeing a man with a gun in civilian clothes and believing him to be the killer.
Fortunately for Hammond, the first officer to arrive at the scene did not shoot him. To his credit, that officer kept his wits about him when he spotted Hammond with a gun and heard him shout that he was an off-duty officer. In the heat of the moment, a hyped-up officer could easily have shot Hammond. Shortly thereafter, the shooter was killed by officers, thus ending the carnage.
The Salt Lake City police chief announced that there was no doubt Hammond's action resulted in preventing any additional deaths and injuries. Hammond was very smart in telling his wife to give the "911" operator his detailed description. That probably helped to prevent him from being mistaken for the shooter. Many officers would not have thought to get their own description called in.
Hammond is a very brave officer. Instead of hiding in the restaurant with his pregnant wife, he went after the heavily armed perpetrator, thereby riskimg his life to save the lives of others. He could have readily been killed by the shooter or by "friendly fire." Officer Hammond had to know that, by going after the killer, he might not live to see his family again. That is what being a true hero is all about.
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