St. Valentine's Eve Massacre

Fantastic work from off-duty and out-of-territory police officer Ken Hammond at the Salt Lake City rampage:

Hammond and his wife, Sarita, had eaten dinner and walked through the mall afterward. At one point, she made a stop, he said, and he heard a "sort of popping noise" while sitting on a bench. At first, he dismissed it as mall construction.

As the couple walked, Hammond said, he saw "seriously injured" people. Looking in another direction, he said, he saw a man with a shotgun walking out of the business where the injured people were. He told his wife to go back to the restaurant and call 911.

Although he was standing on the second floor and the suspect was on the first floor, he said he identified himself as a police officer and drew his weapon. The suspect shot at him twice but missed him, he said.

He laid on the ground but was concerned the suspect might come up the escalators located behind him.

When he stood up, he said, he saw a uniformed Salt Lake City police officer standing on the lower level.

"It was kind of tense for a few seconds. ... I'm standing there in plain clothes with a gun out," said Hammond. "We just kind of stared at each other. I'm screaming as loud as I can, 'I'm Officer Hammond, Ogden City Police. I'm off-duty, OPD' -- just kept repeating myself."

He approached the Salt Lake City officer, he said, and the two were able to locate the suspect and exchanged gunfire with him, eventually killing him.

I would guess that the killer of five, Sulejmen Talovic, 18, wasn't a nice Mormon boy.