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SALT LAKE CITY -- Chaos erupted at a Trolley Square club and bar early Saturday morning. A fight involving more than a dozen people ended with an off-duty Salt Lake County Sheriff's deputy shooting a bar patron.
There seem to be more questions than answers. Police say they're still trying to piece together the details to find out what prompted the deputy to fire his gun.
Detective Dennis McGowan with the Salt Lake City Police Department said, "Somehow, it's unknown to us at this point, a fight started and the fight involved 10 to 15 people."
Police say the fight broke out around 1:30 a.m. at Green Street Social Club at 602 E. 500 South.
"Quite a serious fight. There were injuries as a result of the fight," said McGowan.
In the middle of all of the scuffle was an off-duty Salt Lake County Sheriff's deputy, who was there with his family. Police say some of his family members were involved in the fight.
"The deputy felt compelled to draw his weapon and shoot a patron in the torso," said McGowan.
Some patrons who say they were there during the shooting described the scene on our KSL.com comment board.
Guitarsandrain wrote: "No one knew what was going on and it was total chaos and no one knew that the guy that was shooting was a cop. Everyone was scared. Everyone thought that were was a gunman running around the bar."
Smoothballer25 said: "It was a crazy scene. It's a horrible thing to experience."
Police are not releasing a lot of information about the shooting. They say they are still trying to find out exactly what prompted the off-duty deputy to draw his gun and fire.
They haven't said whether the man who was shot had a weapon, or whether the deputy was drinking alcohol.
Green Street's management had no comment other than to say they have a well-trained security staff. "They take care of every situation that ever happens," said Ranae Roberts, a manager at the social club.
The man who was shot was taken to a local hospital in serious condition, but he's expected to be OK. Another man was seriously injured during the fight and was also taken to the hospital.
The deputy is currently on paid administrative leave, which is standard protocol.
E-mail: jstagg@ksl.com
