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SOUTH SALT LAKE — The dramatic crash and shootout that played out so suddenly along State Street on Monday still remained vivid in the minds of those who were closest to the action.
“I was definitely a little bit shaken at the moment — my hands were trembling a little bit,” recalled Ricardo Menacho, who used his phone to capture video of the gunfire from the perspective of the auto lot across the street. “It all happened very fast.”
Menacho said he was helping a client when they both heard distant sirens.
“Next thing I know, I hear tires screeching — like an accident is about to happen,” Menacho said. “I see the (truck) go over the median, and then once he goes over the median, he hits the wall going at high speed.”
Police said 37-year-old suspect Harold Vincent Robinson had crashed into the storefront of Princess Alterations and Leather Work, 3339 S. State St., and gunfire was soon to follow.
“I would say 60 bullets at least,” Menacho said.
While Menacho said on Tuesday he felt like the anxiety surrounding the shootout had passed, behavioral health professionals said other witnesses may experience lingering symptoms from watching what took place.
“Some people the shock persists,” said Spencer Hansen, an emergency psychiatrist at LDS Hospital’s Behavioral Health Access Center.
“Something like an acute stress disorder after a traumatic event that could eventually develop into a post-traumatic stress disorder commonly would present with increased anxiety, maybe a sense of panic that you don’t know where it’s coming from just kind out of the blue. Maybe it’s just an overwhelming sadness where you just feel sad and you can’t explain that but it’s new — you didn’t have that before you witnessed the event, trouble falling asleep, trouble talking about things, wanting to just kind of isolate a little bit.”
Hansen said it’s important for people to go at their own pace in feeling comfortable to eventually talk about what happened.
“If you do feel comfortable opening up about it, we definitely would encourage that — we feel in that ‘opening up,’ you’re allowing your brain to process the event completely,” Hansen said. “Usually if you’re feeling anxious enough, if you’re having memories of the event come back to you and it’s interfering with your ability to function, you may need to reach out for some support.”
Menacho said he did not anticipate any lingering effects following his experience, and he hoped others made it through what happened as well as he did.
“This is Salt Lake City — it’s supposed to be safe,” Menacho shrugged. “It’s just crazy to see something like that.”
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