Wednesday, April 23, 2008

mysteries of the Trolley Square massacre

I generally don't consider myself much of a conspiracy theorist, but maybe some of you will take this to be somy nutty conspiracy theory of mine. Anyways, there are some thing's about the SLC PD's Investigative Summary of the Trolley Square shooting incident that have been bugging me for a while. Here is the text of an email I sent to slcpd@slcgov.com tonight. I'll let you know if they answer me.

To Whom It May Concern:

I recently reviewed the SLC PD Trolley Square Shooting Incident Investigative Summary and found a few inconsistencies and holes that raised questions in my mind. I was hoping someone at the SLC PD would be so kind as to attempt to answer them. Please understand that I’m not attempting to cast the actions of the SLC PD in a negative light or any such thing. In fact, I believe that the police responses by Officer Hammond and the SLC PD as a whole were admirably well-executed and worthy of a great deal of praise and the gratitude of SLC residents. There are just a few points of confusion that the after-action reporting left ambiguous and I would like to see them clarified.

The first and largest question is simply: What were the actions of Officer Gordon Worsencroft?

The Investigative Summary explains that Sergeant Josh Scharman formed an “entry team” with Detective Brett Olsen, Detective Dustin Marshall and Officer Gordon Worsencroft:

“Sergeant Scharman ran down four flights of stairs and drove to Trolley Square, arriving at approximately 6:47 pm. Armed with his MP5 service weapon, he formed an entry team with Detective Brett Olsen, Detective Dustin Marshall and Officer Gordon Worsencroft.”

“Detective Olsen obtained his MP5 service weapon and joined an entry team with Sergeant Scharman, Detective Marshall and Officer Worsencroft.”

“Detective Marshall obtained his AR-15 service rifle and joined an entry team with Sergeant Scharman, Detective Olsen and Officer Worsencroft.”

Mysteriously, Worsencroft was no longer with the team when they confronted Talovic. There are specific mentions of Sharman, Olsen, and Marshall firing at Talovic, but no mention of Worsencroft. Also, He is conspicuously missing from the list of officers that shot and killed Talovic:

“At that moment, three other Salt Lake City Police Officers, Sergeant Josh Scharman, Detective Brett Olsen and Detective Dustin Marshall, were able to confront Talovic from behind, shooting and killing him with multiple rounds.”

“The team came around a corner of the store, with Detective Olsen on point flanked by Detective Marshall on his right and Sergeant Scharman on his left.”
The Investigative Summary specifically describes the actions of Scharman, Olsen, and Marshall, three members of the four-man entry team, but omits Worsencroft. This begs the question: What did Worsencroft do from the time that the entry team entered the north door of Pottery Barn Kids to when they confronted Talovic and why was he not with the rest of the entry team?

A second question stems from the description of the items located, documented, and seized at the crime scene:

29 Shotgun shells, fired by Sulejmen Talovic
19 9mm shell casings recovered
28 Shotgun wads recovered
5 223 cal casings recovered
9 Live shotgun shells recovered
1 Slug shotgun shell (dropped by police while reloading weapon)
16 Bullet fragments recovered in various places
3 45 cal shell casing recovered
15 Bullet strikes to Sulejmen Talovic
1 38 cal slug recovered
1 Fragmented bullet recovered

I have every reason to think that the SLC PD Crime Scene Unit and the Utah DPS Crime Lab were thorough in their searching, seizing and documenting, so it is likely that the assorted shell casings account for every shot fired during the incident (with the exception of the .38 S&W revolver that Talovic used to kill Vanessa Quinn, but one can suppose that since he only discharged two of the five cylinders, the two .38 shell casings were still in the revolver). The 29 shotgun shells are listed as “fired by Sulejmen Talovic.” The three .45 shell casings appear to have come from Officer Hammond’s weapon (he is described as having fired three shots, and other sources have indicated that he was armed with a .45 handgun). It can be surmised that the five .223 casings came from Detective Dustin Marshall’s AR-15 when he fired at Talovic. The question arises when considering the nineteen 9mm shell casings recovered. Sergeant Scharman is described as firing a total of six rounds from his MP5 and Detective Olsen fired a total of seven rounds from his MP5. Their actions would explain thirteen of the nineteen 9mm shell casings, but where did the other six come from? Even if Sergeant Oblad’s “service weapon” of an unspecified type and caliber were a 9mm firearm, that would still leave four more 9mm shell casings than the Investigative Summary indicates there were shots fired. Where did those six or four additional 9mm shell casings come from? Did Officer Worsencroft fire them? If so, why was this not mentioned in the Investigative Summary?

A third group of questions emerges after seeing this video taken during the shooting incident. At the 1:47 mark in the video, two police officers can be seen, the second of which appears to be armed with a shotgun which he fires from the hip at the 2:11 mark. Who was this second officer? Could it have been Officer Worsencroft? Why was this weapon discharge not mentioned in the Investigative Summary? And why were all 29 shotgun shells described as “fired by Sulejmen Talovic” when it appears from the video that a police officer fired at least one?

I greatly appreciate your efforts in clearing up these few points of confusion. Thank you.

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