On a tragic evening in Salt Lake City, Utah, 29-year-old Vanessa Antrobus Quinn, a Caucasian female, became one of the victims in a sudden and senseless act of violence. On February 12, 2007, a shooting rampage unfolded at the Trolley Square shopping center, claiming the lives of five individuals and injuring four others. Vanessa was at the mall with her husband, Richard Quinn, to shop for a wedding ring, a belated symbol of their four-year marriage.
They had spoken on the phone shortly before the attack began, but were separated when the gunman opened fire.
The perpetrator was identified as 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic, a Bosnian immigrant residing in Salt Lake City. Armed with a shotgun and a. 38-caliber pistol, Talovic indiscriminately fired upon shoppers and employees throughout the mall. The chaotic scene came to an end when an off-duty police officer from Ogden, Ken Hammond, engaged Talovic in a shootout, which was soon joined by several Salt Lake City police officers. Talovic was ultimately killed by police at the scene, bringing an end to his deadly assault.
In the aftermath of the shooting, an investigation into the origin of the firearms used by Talovic led to an arrest. Mackenzie Glade Hunter, 20, was charged with illegally selling the handgun to the teenage shooter. Hunter pleaded guilty to being a drug user in possession of a firearm in an agreement that dropped the charge of unlawfully transferring a firearm to a minor. He was subsequently sentenced to 15 months in prison. Vanessa Quinn's parents, Sue and Ken Antrobus, sought to be recognized as victims in Hunter's case under the Crime Victims' Rights Act, which would have allowed them to make a victim-impact statement and receive restitution. However, the court denied their motion, ruling that their daughter was not a direct victim of Hunter's specific crime of illegal firearm possession.
