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Sandra Yi reportingSurveillance video captured the brutal and brazen nature of a deadly shooting at a Salt Lake dollar store. It's scary to watch on TV, but a 12-year-old girl was in the store at the time and knew the victim well.
The girl didn't witness the actual shooting, but she heard it and had her own frightening encounter with one of the robbers. "I heard them say, 'Give me the money', and Wally came out, and that's when they shot him," she said.
She was in the store, and, like many in the neighborhood, knew and loved the victim. There is a memorial for him there now.
Wally Knapton managed the store. During his three years of working there, he made many friends, including the 12-year-old girl who was there for the terrifying moments.
When two masked gunmen stormed into the Family Dollar store last night, the girl and her friend were inside. Fearing for her safety, the girl's mother asked us not to show her face.
"Me and my friend were shopping for toys for her little sister's birthday," she told us. She had no idea what would happen next. "It sounded like gunshots, and I heard somebody screaming."
Surveillance video shows the men wielding their weapon and threatening the cashier. They grab what the clerk hands them. Police say when Wally Knapton walked toward the register, the suspects approached him, then shot him, unprovoked.
The girl and her friend made a run for it. "We just threw everything on the shelf and we ran out." She says, on her way out, one of the robbers pushed her as he tried to make his own escape. She didn't know Knapton had been killed. "He was a very sweet guy, and I couldn't even sleep because I thought he was OK, and I couldn't stop worrying."
The girl's mother had no idea the girl had gone to the store until police called her, saying they had her daughter.
Now people are mourning the loss of a man known for his kindness, generosity and sense of humor. They hope the men who killed him will be brought to justice.
Glendale resident, Lisa Jeffries, said, "There's no amount of merchandise in a dollar store or in a dollar store register that's worth taking a human life."
This is the second fatal robbery in the neighborhood in the past six months, and people there are angry about the violence. Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker issued a statement saying the city hired 16 new officers this week to patrol the neighborhoods west of State Street.
E-mail: syi@ksl.com
