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SALT LAKE CITY — Was the weapon used by Sulejman Talovic during the tragedy at Trolley Square a "shotgun" or not?
That's the question 3rd District Judge Glenn Iwasaki must decide when considering whether a civil lawsuit brought by victims of the Trolley Square shooting against a pawn shop employee who sold Talovic the weapon, should go to trial.
My life has plummeted. It's gotten worse every year.
–Carolyn Tuft
On Feb. 12, 2007, Talovic, 18, shot and killed five people at Trolley Square and wounded four others before being shot and killed by police.
Three months prior to the tragedy, Talovic purchased a Mossberg 88 pistol-grip 12-gauge shotgun from Rocky Mountain Enterprises, also known as Sportsman's Fast Cash.
Carolyn Tuft and her 15-year-old daughter, Kirsten Hinckley, were both shot by Talovic while shopping at Trolley Square. Kirsten was killed.
Tuft, represented by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, has filed a civil suit against Rocky Mountain and the pawn shop employee who sold the gun to Talovic, Westley Hill. The suit claims that under federal law, the pawn shop was not allowed to sell that type of weapon to Talovic.
"This is an illegal gun sale. They sold it to a dangerous person who never should have got it," said Daniel Vice, lead attorney for the Brady Center. "Federal law has been clear for four decades."
Under federal law, guns cannot be sold to minors with a few exceptions, one of them being shotguns.
Mike Hansen, Hill's attorney, argued that under straight definitions, the weapon sold to Talovic was a shotgun and legal. Even though he bought it with a pistol-grip, Hansen said the gun was originally made to have both a pistol grip or could be fired from the shoulder, thus qualifying it as a shotgun.
Hansen called the incident at Trolley Square the worst massacre in the state since the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857. But according to everyone interviewed by law enforcement, no one could have known what Talovic was intending to do, he said.
"It was not, as a matter of law, reasonably foreseeable that the gun bought by Talovic would be used to kill anyone," Hansen said in court.
Vice disagreed, saying any teen looking to buy a pistol-grip shotgun should automatically raise red flags.
"It's a weapon of mass destruction. It's not a hunting weapon," he said. "If a teenager walks into your gun store and buys this weapon, you are liable for the harm that results."
Tuft and members of her family attended Monday's hearing. A tearful Kait Hinckley, Kirsten's sister, told reporters outside the courtroom that the family wants no one else to ever "feel the pain we feel everyday. I miss her so much. Nobody has to feel this way again. It just shouldn't happen."
Rather than time healing wounds, Tuft said her life has spiraled downward since her daughter's death. "My life has plummeted. It's gotten worse with every year. My health is worse," she said.
Tuft said it was also painful to watch things happen each year that her daughter has missed out on.
Iwasaki took the arguments presented in court under advisement. If he rules in favor of the victims, the case would move on to another phase where damages and monetary compensation could be determined.
Hansen, meanwhile, has asked for summary judgment by Iwasaki, meaning the judge can make a ruling without going to a full trial.
In a similar lawsuit by Trolley Square victim Stacy Hanson, a judge in Provo ruled Jan. 31 that the weapon was not a shotgun since it's not designed to rest against the shooter's shoulder.
Hansen said he believed the judge got the ruling wrong. He noted that criminal charges that were originally filed against his client were later dropped. He eventually pleaded guilty in federal court to a misdemeanor count of not asking for two forms of identification from Talovic.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com
