OCR Text |
Show NORTH COUNTY NEWSPAPERS Thursday, July 12, 2007 Page 16 Trolley Square victim visits Lehi, recounts night of shooting spree Cathy Allred ()n Feb. 12 at 6:44 p.m., Stacy Hanson's life Uxk a turn. He was one of the four victims wounded in the Trolley Square shooting spree in Salt Lake City. "The situation changed their lives forever and those around you for the rest of your life," llanson said. He made his first presentation on the shx)ting July 6 for the Lehi Community Council monthly workshop series Hanson's nightmare began when he had stopj)ed off from his way from work to buy his w ife a Valentine's card. He sits lx;fore the small audience at luhi City I lall in a wheelchair. I I.rnson will later explain his paralysis pa-ralysis is a result of being shot at the lower extremity of his spinal cord. "I thought I would stop by, get everything done on time for once," he said of visiting Cabin Fever for a Valentine Day card for his wife. "Then I heard a pop a construction-like pop. We didn't really think anything of it, but then we heard another pop." Hanson paused. "It's amazing how you bond with people you don't even know," he said. I le recalled the store manager manag-er saying "OK, 1 want everyone to get down and I want you to be quiet." "It was such a surrealistic thing when something like this happens," Haason said. "This guy comes walking in. He has a sawed-off shotgun and a 38 and you could tell by looking at him he was trying to do something." Haason said at the time he felt he had to do something so he stood up and told 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic they all had kids they wanted to get home to, an attempt to humanize the situation. "Obviously that didn't work," Haason said. "He said, 'Shut up' and then boom." The Bosniak immigrant stared at Haason for a moment Haason and than the shooting began in earnest. Five who chose to visit Trolley Trol-ley Square that day died in the massacre in addition to the gunman, Talovic. The killer's rampage was halted by five law enforcement officers, including one off duty officer who had been at a restaurant with his wife prior to the shcxrting. The store Hanson was in would have most of the dead.. Once shot, Haason responded respond-ed to the teen. "You blankety blank you shot me." Then he laid down getting shot at least twice more. "It was total carnage," Hanson Han-son said. "It was a scene that was so disturbing it was hard to describe." I le said he saw blood spilling towards him in a ever-growing glistening red pool. He tried inching away from the bkxxl without Talovic noticing. After a while there was a weird silence," he said. "I looked over I saw all these people laying there. It was like a movie." But it wasn't the dead that brought on the silence, it was Talovic reloading. I lanson's relief of "Oh good, it's over and I'm alive" to the THE.WOOD FLOO R WAREHOUSE Utah 's'l 1 Wood Floor Superstore SLC 4097 $ 420 W 264-WCOO , I Orem 635 N 1200 W 801 -WOOD(9663) Ogden 5280 $ Freeway Pk 778-W00D ; Beating cancer took Intermountain Healthcare's renowned best practice methods, Huntsman Cancer Institutes outstanding research, and Wendy Nevilles determination. ?en&y Neville is determined, which is a good thing when you're in a fight against cancer. Another good thing is that Intermountain Healthcare and Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah have joined forces to help cancer patients. Now, most major Intermountain hospitals have Huntsman-Intermountain Cancer The linear accelerator is one of the many advanced technologies utilized at Huntsman-Intermountain Huntsman-Intermountain Cancer Centers. Centers. This gives people access to Huntsman's outstanding research and Intermountain Healthcare's renowned best practice methods and patient care. And each Center is fully focused on helping patients heal, both physically and otherwise. Because courage and determination alone can't beat cancer. People also need the right resources. lymimMiiii i,,r i ' niLiii'i"" ii in- rr mi "" i f Huntsman-Intermountain Cancer Center American Fork Hospital INTERMOUNTAIN MEDICAL CENTER McKAY-DEE HOSPITAL CENTER AMERICAN FORK HOSPITAL DIXIE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER other extreme of hopelessness, "Well, this is it. He's going to make sure we're all dead." "I was praying. I was trying to contact every dead relative that could come down and help me," Hanson said. "It was just unbelievable." Then he heard " pop pop pop pop pop." "Finally I heard the words 'It's all over. Everyone is safe now,'" Hanson said. "Then the havoc began. Everyone was scrambling to see who was alive and who wasn't." Talovic was a high school dropout and had history of minor juvenile delinquency. Carrying a shotgun and a handgun, he toted a backpack full of ammunition, more than 96 rounds. Off-duty police officer Kenneth Ken-neth Hammond and Sgt. Andrew An-drew Oblad of the Salt Lake City Police and other officers ended Talovic's rampage by cornering him and shooting him. Dead also were Teresa Ellis, El-lis, 29; Bad Frantz, 24; Kirsten Hinckley, 15; Vanessa Quinn, 29; and Jeffery Walker, 53. Hanson would end up spending spend-ing one month in intensive care. Two weeks into his recovery he got a perforated stomach. At first he was so weak he couldn't lift up his head, but he was determined to pull through and survive. It wasn't just a matter of commitment. Hanson says he had help. "You never realize how good people can be until you realize "Medical Breakthrough For Sciatica" UTAH - A new free report has recently been released that reveals how breakthrough medical technology is offering surgery free new hope for disc pain sufferers. Research has proven that FDA approved nonsurgical non-surgical spinal decompression decom-pression has an amazing success rate for treating debilitating back pain including in-cluding sciatica and multiple mul-tiple herniated disc. It looks like another NASA discovery has lead to the most promising non-surgical disc treatment today. to-day. For your free report entitled, "How Space Age Technology Is Solving Solv-ing Back Pain Without Drugs Or Surgery!" call 1-800-650-1104 and listen lis-ten to the toll-free 24 hr recorded message for all the details or go to www.911backpaininfo. com. These free reports are available for a limited time. how bad people can be," he said.of Talovic. "Obviously this was a very disturbed person." He credits others for helping him with their support and steadfastness including his wife Colleen Hanson and Mrs. Utah Tiffany Berg of Eagle Mountain. Moun-tain. "They made it so we could live in our home," Hanson said of Berg. ""It's just amazing how people come together and I think part of it Is it helps everyone every-one to heal." Colleen Hanson has become proactive since the shooting, shoot-ing, lobbying for legislative support of a program called Teen Screen, a test that alerts parents and school officials of children with depression and possible suicide tendencies and provides the opportunity for intervention and help. "People ask me do I hate . this guy," he said. "The answer an-swer to that is no ... I don't hate Talovic. I hate what he did." He said he can blame the boy's parents for not knowing him enough to know he had a sawed off shot gun, blame the gun dealer, blame the system for letting him fall through the cracks. "I think if I've learned anything any-thing is the fragility of life is to be taken very seriously," he said. "Life is a gift, something to be celebrated. We often take life for granted." He said he has also learned to focus on those things he can control and to stay positive. IP'- Let the Sun Shine In! - Starting at $499 installed' 3): SOL AT U BE. Daylighting System Professional Installation in about 2 hours Save $$ Save Energy We do Swamp Cooler switchouts Toll Free 877-873-7652 slc 566-1264 Broght Concepts llc www.brighterrooms.com Excavating Operated Equipment Rental Equipment Hauling Dump Trucks Erosion Control SPRINGVILLE.UT 801-794-2880 fpFABCO "to Mr Glass Products i??3ZEnB PCitjH We will help you tee lYff LillPl ,hln8 little bit better! Lowest fee in the nation Interest paid on deposits 'l |