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SARATOGA SPRINGS — Forty students from Westlake High School went from taking pictures Friday afternoon to taking fire from target shooters near Utah Lake.
It's a common thing on the western side of Utah Lake: gunfire, on public land, with signs everywhere to let people know to be cautious.
But Friday, the group of students, here on a field trip, came under fire when target shooters bullets got far too close for comfort.
A mother of one of the students recalls a text message from her terrified daughter: "It's been going on for 10 minutes. We're laying on the ground and waiting for police to come," Collette Boden read.
This was just such a freak incidence. The teachers did their best to handle it the way they could. The concern was the response time. Why wasn't anyone coming?
–Collette Boden, parent
#boden_quote
The two men were firing at targets on this hillside, unaware there was a school bus full of children on the other side, down by the water's edge.
When the shooting began, the students were taking pictures and testing water samples. Teachers and bus driver quickly put all the students back on the bus. Twenty more minutes passed before Utah County sheriff's deputies arrived.
"The shooters were not being really negligent or reckless or careless," said Sgt. Spencer Cannon. "They were not aware of the ricochet, and that's one of the risks of target shooting in areas like this: you can have a ricochet that can be dangerous for other people in the area."
The students were a half mile away from where the bullets were fired. Utah County authorities did not cite the two men, who cooperated fully and moved once they realized what was happening.
Alpine School District officials said students take field trips to that area frequently and did not question the location chosen by the teacher and bus driver.
"This was just such a freak incidence," Boden said. "The teachers did their best to handle it the way they could. The concern was the response time. Why wasn't anyone coming?"
Some parents, like Boden, wonder why the Saratoga Springs Police Department didn't respond, since their officers were obviously closer. But that department said they simply weren't dispatched to the scene.
Email: awittenberg@ksl.com
