Two People Killed, Six Injured in Shooting Outside Mormon Church in Salt Lake City
A disturbing incident unfolded outside a Mormon church in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, claiming two lives and leaving six others injured. The shooting occurred in the parking lot of a meetinghouse for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where dozens of mourners were gathered to pay their respects.
Eyewitnesses described the scene as chaotic, with people crying and arguing over the lifeless body of one victim. Another witness, Brennan McIntire, who lives next to the church, said he heard gunshots from his apartment and rushed outside to find someone on the ground. "As soon as I came over, I see someone on the ground," he recalled. "People are attending to him and crying and arguing."
Police have downplayed any potential motives for the shooting, stating that they do not believe the shooter targeted the church or its members specifically. The Salt Lake City Police Chief, Brian Redd, said, "We don’t believe this was a targeted attack against a religion or anything like that." However, authorities have not ruled out the possibility of a random act.
The church has been cooperating with law enforcement and expressing gratitude for the efforts of first responders. In a statement, a spokesperson for the church condemned the violence and extended prayers to those affected by the tragedy.
The incident comes just weeks after another attack on a church in Michigan, where four people were killed by a former Marine motivated by anti-religious sentiments. The FBI is investigating the motive behind this shooting as well, which has put the Mormon community on high alert.
As the investigation continues, officials are urging caution and seeking to prevent any further harm to innocent individuals. "This should never have happened outside a place of worship," said Mayor Erin Mendenhall.
A disturbing incident unfolded outside a Mormon church in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, claiming two lives and leaving six others injured. The shooting occurred in the parking lot of a meetinghouse for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where dozens of mourners were gathered to pay their respects.
Eyewitnesses described the scene as chaotic, with people crying and arguing over the lifeless body of one victim. Another witness, Brennan McIntire, who lives next to the church, said he heard gunshots from his apartment and rushed outside to find someone on the ground. "As soon as I came over, I see someone on the ground," he recalled. "People are attending to him and crying and arguing."
Police have downplayed any potential motives for the shooting, stating that they do not believe the shooter targeted the church or its members specifically. The Salt Lake City Police Chief, Brian Redd, said, "We don’t believe this was a targeted attack against a religion or anything like that." However, authorities have not ruled out the possibility of a random act.
The church has been cooperating with law enforcement and expressing gratitude for the efforts of first responders. In a statement, a spokesperson for the church condemned the violence and extended prayers to those affected by the tragedy.
The incident comes just weeks after another attack on a church in Michigan, where four people were killed by a former Marine motivated by anti-religious sentiments. The FBI is investigating the motive behind this shooting as well, which has put the Mormon community on high alert.
As the investigation continues, officials are urging caution and seeking to prevent any further harm to innocent individuals. "This should never have happened outside a place of worship," said Mayor Erin Mendenhall.
... two people lost their lives over something so senseless & random 
. Can't believe there's still good folks out there who'd wanna do harm to innocent ppl gathering for a peaceful event 
. The police are right, no clear motive, but that doesn't make it any less tragic 
. What I don't get is why people gotta resort to violence & guns like that 
. We need more love & understanding in this world, not hatred & fear 
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. First, it's a church in Michigan and now this one. You'd think we've learned from the last incident but I guess not. The fact that police are saying it wasn't a targeted attack but still gotta investigate raises more questions than answers. 
Shouldn't we be worried about people like that? 
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. The fact that the shooter wasn't targeting the church specifically doesn't make it any less disturbing. We need to take responsibility for our actions and hold ourselves accountable, not just sweep it under the rug and hope it goes away 
These poor people who lost their lives outside that Mormon church... my heart goes out to 'em. And six others injured? That's just heartbreaking. 
. I know we can't jump to conclusions, but it feels like we're seeing way too much of these kinds of incidents lately 
. Can we please just talk about the layout of that parking lot for a sec? Is there any way they could've avoided this kind of tragedy by even making the parking area more secure? I mean, it's just common sense, right? 
At least the church is cooperating with the police and stuff. Fingers crossed they find out what happened soon 
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. you'd think that places of worship are safe, but apparently they're not 
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meanwhile the mayor is talking about preventing harm to innocent people... shouldn't we all just live in peace and not have to deal with this kind of violence 
this is just so heartbreaking what's going on with all these shootings in churches lately? 
and yeah, the police saying it wasn't a targeted attack just feels like a cop-out, you know? 
they gotta get to the bottom of this and make sure whoever did this is held accountable. 
and what about all the witnesses who were there in shock? Brennan McIntire's story is giving me chills 
like he just heard gunshots from his apt and then ran outside to see someone on the ground... it's like the world is getting more and more crazy 
i'm trying not to think about the fact that this happened at a church in Salt Lake City, where people go to pray and find peace... and now there's just so much uncertainty and fear 
and it's not just the loss of life that hurts, but also the trauma and pain that the survivors are going through 
can't help but think about the potential motives behind this shooting... was it a random act or was there something deeper at play? 
this one's got everyone on edge too, the gov's not saying if it was random or not... can't we just focus on making our communities better? 
. The fact that six people were injured, and two lost their lives, is a tragedy that can be felt by all who believe in humanity 
. It's disheartening to see that gun violence continues to plague our society, leaving innocent individuals vulnerable to harm 
we need people to start taking action against all this gun violence 
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