A gunman identified as Sulejman Talović killed five bystanders and wounded four others before being shot dead by several members of the Salt Lake City Police Department.

He was wearing a white shirt, a tan trench coat,[2][3] and was carrying a pistol grip 6-shot 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, a 38-caliber handgun,[4] and a backpack full of extra ammunition.

He shot and wounded both in the head with his shotgun; Alan Walker managed to run down a staircase to the lower parking level, where he was assisted by other citizens.

Entering the mall, he approached the west stairs, where he fired at a security guard, missing, then walked down the main level hallway in the opposite direction.

He first approached 44-year-old Carolyn Tuft, who was crouched down near a display table at the front of the store, and shot her in the left side and arm with the shotgun, causing her to fall over to the ground.

Talović then approached a group of three people: 15-year-old Kirsten Hinckley (whose mother was the injured Carolyn Tuft), 24-year-old Brad Frantz, and 29-year-old Teresa Ellis.

Moving around the central hallway area, Talović focused his gunfire at three restaurant employees, firing from near the south entrance of the Pottery Barn Kids home-furnishing store.

Meanwhile, Sergeant Andrew Oblad of the Salt Lake City Police Department entered Trolley Square through the south entrance and encountered Kenneth Hammond.

[1] According to local TV station KTVX, several witnesses reported that most of the shooting took place on the ground floor near the Pottery Barn store, though the majority of the dead and injured were found in Cabin Fever.

[8] At a news conference the following day after the shooting, Chief Chris Burbank shared the victims' names and later worked to initiate a public conversation about preventing individuals with mental illness from accessing firearms.

[11] Talović was a permanent resident who received a green card in 2005[12] and lived with his mother, father and three sisters in Salt Lake City at the time of the shooting.

Sulejman's father Suljo Talović soon moved back to Bosnia and told media outlets that he was too sad and ashamed to stay living in a country where his son committed mass murder.

[20] In the light of the War on Terrorism some commentators, including John Gibson[21] and U.S. Representative Chris Cannon[22] suggested that Talović repeatedly shouted "Allahu Akbar" prior to his death, suggesting a religious motive, citing video of the rampage which supposedly captures Talović's religious shouting.

[23] After being told that police investigators had not uncovered any evidence to support his claims, Cannon's spokesman said the congressman accepts that Talović did not yell anything of a religious nature.