Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Dozens of people gathered outside a Logan apartment complex for a candlelight vigil honoring two young people killed there earlier this week in a murder-suicide.
Relatives joined Utah State University students and Logan police Tuesday evening to remember Mackenzie Madden, 19, and Johnathon Sadler, 25. Organizers said they also wanted to show sympathy to family members of 23-year-old Army National Guardsman Jared Tolman, the man who police say shot the two before committing suicide at another home.
"This is really for all of the individuals who lost lives that night and all of their families. It's not exclusive to only Mackenzie and Johnathon, but also the Tolman family," Natasha Carrell, a USU student who helped plan the memorial, told the Deseret News. "Everyone involved is mourning. They just need to know that people are thinking of them."
Authorities said Tolman kicked down the door of Madden's apartment early Monday morning and fatally shot her and Sadler with an assault rifle. Tolman killed himself later at another home, police said.
Sadler's mother told the Logan Herald-Journal that her son and Madden had gone on their first date that night, and Sadler stayed with her after she received frightening text messages from Tolman.
"He said 'I will stay and protect you,' and now they're both gone," Sue Sadler told the newspaper.
Madden, a native of Idaho Falls, Idaho, was a sociology student at USU and had interned with the Logan Police Department last fall. Sadler was a manager at a Hyde Park construction company.
Investigators are looking at a suicide note they say Tolman wrote before he left his home the night of the shootings.
"The note basically consisted of him saying he was sorry for what he was going to do and he knew it was selfish," Logan Police Lt. Rod Peterson told the Deseret News.
Sue Sadler and her husband, Todd, addressed the crowd Tuesday night and encouraged them to be respectful and loving toward others.
"We don't understand sometimes why people do the things they do," Todd Sadler said.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
