And now, News 4 Utah at 10.
I've never experienced anything that scary in my life.
A lone gunman opens fire in downtown Salt Lake City.
Three people are dead, including the shooter, several injured, and hundreds shaken.
That is our top story.
The suspect walked into the LDS Family History Library around 10 o'clock and just started
firing.
For Utah's Christina Flores begins our live team coverage with details on how it all happened.
Well, Randall and Kimberly, apparently 70-year-old Sergey Babarin said nothing when he walked
into the Family History Library early this morning.
According to witnesses, he pulled out a gun and randomly began shooting on the first floor.
As SWAT teams and police surrounded the Family History Building, inside several victims were
trapped.
What they witnessed just minutes before was terrifying.
And there was at least 10 pop, pop, pop, pops.
And by the fifth one, they were telling us to get down.
And we all got down, got under our computers, and I thought, this is not real.
We just couldn't hardly believe it because we heard the shots and it sounded like a percussion
rather than a gunshot.
Not only were police worried about the victims who were still inside, but with the suspect
still armed, police feared he'd shoot out the windows into other nearby buildings.
As a precaution, police evacuated nearly 200 schoolchildren who were visiting a building
next door.
And at a nearby hotel, guests there were evacuated too.
Back inside the Family History Library, police managed to get some of the victims out safely,
but others were still inside.
We think they locked themselves in for security purposes at this point.
And we're just trying to find a way to get them back over here safely.
One by one, paramedics treated the gunman's victims, six victims in all.
Two of them died.
Finally, a police officer fires hitting Barbarin.
As the gunman himself is rushed out by paramedics, police are cautious.
They believe his body may be wired with explosives.
It turns out there were no bombs, and Sergei Barbarin died in the ambulance at the scene.
Now I did talk to the director of the Family History Library earlier today, and he told
me that there will be discussions about security, although he did not say what changes would
take place.
But he did say it will be tough for the staff here to think defensively, to be suspicious
of people when they're so trained to be very welcoming and very open to the many visitors
that they get here every single day.
Nevertheless, the library will be closed until Monday.
Back to you.
All right.
Thanks, Christina.
Another bizarre situation was also brewing downtown at the Triad Center.
Police were watching this paneled moving truck very closely.
You see, they were concerned it was the suspects and contained a bomb.
So concerned, they evacuated the entire Triad Center.
The bomb squad was called in, and they blew a hole in the side of the truck so they could
see inside.
Police found no explosives inside.
In fact, they now say the truck belonged to another man who had driven from Idaho with
gasoline in the back of his truck, completely unrelated to the shooting.
So just who was Sergei Barbarin, the man who walked into a peaceful library and began shooting
innocent people?
News for Utah's David Northfield joins us now outside the Salt Lake apartment building
where Barbarin lived.
David?
Randall and Kimberly, Sergei Barbarin was 70 years old.
He was a husband and a father who moved his family here from Russia.
But Barbarin apparently had trouble adjusting to his adopted country.
Barbarin lived here at St. Mark's Towers in Salt Lake City for nine years with his wife,
Joya.
The manager of these government subsidized housing units for senior citizens says Barbarin
spoke little English.
That led to frustration and conflicts with other tenants.
Some of the residents did have run-ins with him because we felt like maybe it was the
communication barrier.
And he'd get angry, they'd get angry.
General LaTual says there was no indication of the serious mental problems Mayor Corradini
spoke of this afternoon.
He is apparently schizophrenic and has not been taking his medication lately.
Barbarin also had a run-in with police in November of 1995 when he was sighted at a
downtown department store for assault and carrying a concealed weapon.
Barbarin had a weapon again today.
He used it to take two lives.
And it cost him his own.
The Barbarins reportedly have a son who lives here in the Salt Lake area.
We tried to contact him earlier this evening but were unsuccessful.
Now there are 107 senior citizens who live here at St. Mark's Towers and as you can probably
imagine many of them are very upset by what happened today.
So counseling will be made available to them tomorrow.
Back to you.
David, with Barbarin's history of carrying guns, are there any rules about firearms at
his residence?
Well, Kimberly, no rules that don't apply to the rest of the population.
This is independent living here at St. Mark's Towers so they have the same second amendment
rights as everyone else.
Now as far as Sergei Barbarin's mental state and his right to carry a gun, that's a different
issue.
And that raises a lot of questions.
Thanks David.
You bet.
More than 2,700 people were inside the library at the time of the shooting.
Many heard the shots and others saw the gunman.
News for you, Christine Hill has their stories.
They filed out in the thousands, most not even knowing why they were being evacuated.
As they gathered at Abravanov Hall, many people discovered how lucky they were.
But others already knew.
They'd seen the gunman.
They'd heard the blast.
They'd watched as people were shot.
One fellow with a gun in his hand outstretched, just indiscriminately shooting at the people
in the lobby area as he came in.
Then he walked down through the classroom area and shot another fellow in the hallway
there and shot through the windows into the research area where we were.
Well I was standing there about 10 feet from where he started shooting, 10 to 20 feet maybe.
He was on the other side of the glass partition and he started popping away and all of us
with our backs to the glass partition and that first bank of computers, we just hit
the ground.
I heard some noise and I thought somebody was fixing something and I just sat there
and said he has a gun, get down and so we all kind of moved up against the wall and
they said then they evacuate and we went out the back door.
It was here that friends and family members found each other, uninjured, alive.
Then came news of the lives lost and other lives changed forever.
I saw one lady laying on the floor but I didn't think that she had been shot.
As we ran out, there was one lady just laying there and maybe she had a heart attack or
something.
I have no idea.
It was hard to death and you know we all read about these people who go around shooting.
I think of children on school grounds, different places.
There's nothing you can do.
You just try to make yourself as small as possible.
A survival effort that many witnesses say is needed far too often lately in Salt Lake.
Christine Hill, News 4 Utah.
And the church is offering counseling for all of the witnesses.
Now about 200 kids were caught right in the middle of the disaster today.
Worried parents streamed into Heartland and Vista elementaries waiting for word about
their children.
The kids were on a field trip to the LDS History Museum and the fourth graders had to stay
in the basement of the museum during the crisis.
Later they were reunited with parents where emotions were running very high.
I was really scared and I'm glad that I got out of there life.
I just pulled up and I'm just glad to have her back and all the kids are over there smiling.
We'll talk about it, we'll watch the news and let her tell us more of her feelings and
talk about how this isn't something that happens all the time.
And crisis counselors will be on hand at the schools tomorrow.
A few hours after the shooting the LDS church released a statement on the shooting.
It's very hard to reach out to the innocent victims of this terrible tragedy and their
families to extend our love and blessing to all who have suffered by reason of these sad
and disturbing events which none of us can understand.
If you need to talk to someone about today's tragic events United Healthcare of Utah has
set up a special line.
That number is 1-800-667-8273.
This number is for anyone in the community who may need help or counseling.
The site of today's shooting is in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City.
And as we said at least 2,700 people were inside when the shooting started.
The LDS family history library is across the street from Temple Square.
Police say Babarin walked into the library through the main door and started randomly
shooting hitting a security guard.
People inside the building on the first floor heard the shots and raced for emergency exits.
Some went to the basement, others were able to get out of the building.
This is the largest genealogy library in the world.
More than 2 million rolls of microfilm of census and other records from more than 100
countries are kept inside.
And coincidentally an international genealogical convention was going on nearby in the Salt
Palace attracting heavier than usual traffic to the library.
NATO says it made a mistake that left dozens of refugees dead and wounded.
The latest on the crisis in Kosovo at 1023.
At 1024 they say it's over and it's the middiest fall.
But coming up next, more from the shooting downtown.
We'll take you live to Salt Lake Regional Medical Center for the latest on the shooting
victims.
After a cold day today, it'll be nippy tonight, then warmer for the weekend.
I'll tell you all about it at 1019 Live from the Weatherport.
You're watching Randall Carlisle and Kimberly Perkins on News 4 Utah.
It's about all of us.
Salt Lake Area hospitals were all on standby today, ready to treat those wounded in the
shooting.
Aside from the three who died, four were injured, some severely.
News 4 Utah's Nisha DeGaring is live at Salt Lake Regional Medical Center with more.
Nisha?
Kimberly, there are two victims of the shooting we're covering here at the hospital tonight
with their families.
Local area hospitals had to be on alert today and they were expecting the worst.
Ambulance after ambulance was ready and waiting to transport victims hurt in the shooting.
Many area hospitals were on trauma alert.
The emergency room is on trauma alert.
We have trauma surgeons and other specialists on call who come in.
We clear bed space in the ER.
LDS hospital would need the space for 62 year old Donald Thomas, a church security guard
at the library.
He was shot in the chest several times and later passed away.
President Hinckley has called his wife to express our sympathy and condolences to her.
He was a 28 year veteran in church service.
Four children were just devastated at his death.
The injured also came to University Medical Center.
71 year old Feta Weston is in serious condition.
She was shot in the head.
The bullet evidently entered just to the side of her eye and it has not exited.
It is apparently lodged in the back of her skull.
45 year old Chris Webb and 80 year old Nellie Layton were rushed to Salt Lake Regional.
Salt Lake Police Officer Brad Davis was shot in the right hand but treated at the scene.
Now along with Donald Thomas, a security guard, 55 year old Patricia Irene Franks was also
killed.
She was visiting from California.
Now many of these victims are with their families tonight and people at the hospital tell us
though their injuries are severe, they are doing okay, though this is understandably
a hard time.
Randall and Kimberly?
Very understandable.
Thanks, Nisha.
You know, today's tragedy is once again raising concerns about mentally ill people having
guns.
Courts reporter Paul Murphy joins us now with more on that.
And Paul, was there anything at all unlawful about him having a gun today?
As far as we can tell, no.
And police say no gun laws were broken when a gun was purchased before a similar tragedy
occurred here four months ago.
The similarities are disturbing.
Police say Sergei Babarin, a schizophrenic who didn't take his medication, takes a.22
caliber handgun and starts killing people in the LDS genealogy library.
In 1995, Babarin was arrested during a fight at ZCMI.
He did have a weapon.
It was a.22 semi-automatic pistol.
We're trying to confirm if we took that pistol from him and if it was released at a later
time.
And last January, Lisa Doy, a paranoid schizophrenic who didn't take her medication, gets a gun
and opens fire inside the triad center.
A year and a half before that, she was arrested for threatening to kill a disc jockey with
a steak knife.
She was clueless.
She was still saying, I'm going to kill him.
I'm going to kill him.
I'm going to kill him.
And the Brady bill doesn't appear to apply to either case because they apparently weren't
convicted felons or declared by a judge to be mentally defective.
For Salt Lake City leaders, those loopholes are too big.
I've always been concerned about the gun issue and that people who should not have guns have
them.
Quite frankly, I've been personally concerned about our concealed weapons law in this state.
And unfortunately, I believe both the chief and I have said that it may someday take a
tragedy to get people to wake up to how serious this issue is.
Now gun rights advocates are also concerned about what happened today.
They agree that the mentally ill and people convicted of violent crime should not have
guns.
On the other hand, they suggest a person with a concealed weapon may have been able to stop
some of the carnage much earlier.
It's a trend that is really frightening us all, isn't it?
Very scary.
Thanks, Paul.
We'll head out to the weather porch now.
You say we have some nice weather ahead, Dan?
I like the forecast.
Maybe you'll like it as well.
I'll tell you how warm it will get coming up this weekend, live from the weather porch
at 1019.
Don't go away.
You're watching News 4 Utah with meteorologist Dan Poe on the weather porch.
As I mentioned before, it's a nippy night, but the good news tonight is the winds have
diminished.
Boy, they've been pesky the last couple of days.
Right now, calm winds.
We have a UV index today at 6.2, and that is in the moderate, almost high category.
Now, officially, no high, high temperatures.
In fact, they were low high temperatures, 51 today, 10 below the normal of 61, nowhere
near the record high of 85, set apropos in 1985.
Out to only 30 for the high today, brisk winds in the mountains, 57 for Brigham City, even
72.
A new reporter, Marcy Edwards in Canvas, reports today's high, 47, lows in the teens.
Provo, 55 on the BYU campus.
Smithfield, 49 and 19.
Very cold day in the Cache Valley.
41 right now in Salt Lake City, 61 in St. George.
Temperatures are contrasting across the state.
Still some northerly winds moving down through parts of Washington County.
Wind chills right now, pretty cold.
19 in Rock Springs.
But again, no wind in Salt Lake.
Thank goodness.
It feels like 41.
Around the country, we have some snow that's been falling even as far south as the Texas
Panhandle.
That is very cold for those folks this time of the year in a widespread area across the
Midwest, Chicago, up towards Detroit.
There is some moderate and heavy rain with a little bit of snow on the back edge here
up around Minneapolis, St. Paul.
As we move up towards the Great Lakes, then zip down towards the Atlantic coast, some
strong to severe thunderstorms in the eastern outer banks of North Carolina tonight.
But closer to home, skies are clear.
We're on the edge of all of this precipitation as Salt Lake City, Ogden and Provo are under
clear skies and finally, some calmer conditions.
So with the calmer winds tonight, cold temperatures just kind of on the fringe of those fruit
growing areas where they've had some pretty bad damage from the cold conditions.
We're just barely warm enough, hopefully, to keep any more damage from happening in
the fruit growing areas.
But again, a very cold night tonight.
Tomorrow's high temperatures, 50s to low 60s.
Oh, there are the Mickey ears.
This is the tomorrow map for Utah.
You want to tune in tomorrow morning to Dickie and Angel on Married with Microphones, Oldies
94.1 at 720 AM.
You could go to Disneyland.
Wouldn't you like that?
48 in Park City, Ogden 58 along the Wasatch Front, upper 50s and low 60s.
Abundant sunshine everywhere.
A little warmer at Alta tomorrow, upper 30s.
Bountiful 54, Ogden 58.
And in the day planner, a chilly start, warmer afternoon.
There will be a little northerly wind tomorrow, but not as brisk and breezy as it has been.
How about this warm up for Utah's Dixie?
Upper 70s to middle 80s.
No storminess through the five day forecast and along the Wasatch Front.
Easy to take weather after that cool 59 tomorrow, which is warmer than today.
69 Saturday, 73 on Sunday, and Monday could be the warmest day of the year.
Wouldn't that be nice?
A little bit of rain coming in midweek, but the next five days look great.
Oh, we will indeed enjoy it.
Thanks, Dan.
You're welcome.
NATO now says it made a mistake.
Allied forces did hit a convoy of refugees, and we'll have the very latest next.
And that British couple who said, I do, as part of a radio stunt, are now calling it
quits.
We'll be right back.
News for Utah Weather's UV Index is brought to you by Standard Optical, featuring new
AccuView Bifocal Contact Lenses.
Tomorrow on Good Morning Utah.
We're reviewing life with Eddie Murphy.
We're trying sushi.
It's good, Doug.
I hope.
And we have your morning commute.
And there's nothing wrong about our temperatures.
They look to get even warmer right here on the weather porch.
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Okay, picture this.
Save 50% throughout the store at Savers on Saturday, April 17th.
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A mistake.
That's what NATO now calls yesterday's U.S. warplane attack on Kosovar refugees.
NATO says the pilot circled what he thought was a military convoy three times, identified
the lead vehicle and fired.
Turns out the convoy was actually civilians and Serb troops say 75 refugees died.
Serb forces took this video of the survivors resting in a hospital today.
NATO officials say civilians sometimes do get caught in the crossfire.
I again stress NATO deeply regrets the loss of life from this tragic accident.
But I also want to stress that no conflict in human history has ever been accident free
or will ever be.
Tonight's NATO attacks are targeting TV transmitters and bridges.
A powerful tornado tears through a city and sends folks to the hospital.
National and world headlines starting in Georgia.
Take a look.
This is all that's left in downtown Vienna, Georgia today.
The tornado hit late this morning.
Several homes and businesses were destroyed and over two dozen people were sent to the
hospital.
And in England a couple who said I do over the airwaves are now saying I don't.
It's over.
The man and woman were married last January as part of a radio station contest.
They say the media put too much strain on their relationship.
Now the couple will have to give up that luxury apartment and the sports car that was given
to them by the station as part of their prize.
Oh gee.
How's the Jazz doing?
Well, it's a close one for a while.
At the half a two point game now they're doing a lot better.
We'll try to show you how the Jazz are trying to cool off the Clippers and lots of golf.
We'll show you Greg Norman and is Greg, is Gretzky retiring.
Next.
Greg Norman.
And now, News for Utah Sports with Justin Farmer.
Sure it may be true that professional athletes have short memories but chances are the Jazz
remembered March 27th as they headed into tonight's game with the Clippers.
On that date the Clips whipped and embarrassed the Jazz 103-77.
Tonight perhaps a different story.
How about this?
Jeff Hornacek practically shooting from his shoe tops.
You gotta love watching that guy.
Before the half watch the blocks here.
Greg Ostertag once rejected again.
Yeah, you get the picture.
And Anderson, no.
Finally Greg Foster cleans up the garbage.
A two point game.
Third quarter Stockton to Malone.
We've seen this.
Jazz up ten and as they start the fourth quarter Jazz up 75-61.
Great game from the west.
Houston and Portland Blazers running at Damon Stoudemire.
Rashid Wallace.
But the Rockets were at home and this is where Pippen is paying off.
Barkley up to Scottie.
Scottie then hits the outside shot.
He scores 31 and the Rockets win by 10.
The Showing View, the race in the west.
If Utah wins tonight they will enjoy a one game lead over Portland for home court throughout
in the Western Conference.
NBA scores.
It is Dallas over Minnesota.
They're still playing basketball in Sacramento as well as in Oakland.
Well after falling in the final round of the Masters on Sunday, Greg Norman said, hey at
least he feels like he's back.
Back to a level where he's won more than 70 tournaments worldwide.
Today Hilton had the MCI.
There's the alligator.
There's the shark.
And pushing it.
So he'd take a double bogey there for Norman.
Then another approach shot.
Norman will push it way, way right.
His game did not look intact today.
Two double bogeys.
He shot a 40 on the front side.
Finishes two over par.
The leaders are Steve Flesch and Jeff Maggert at six under.
Tiger is at one under.
And tonight was most likely Wayne Gretzky's final game in Canada.
After the Rangers tied Ottawa at two, Gretzky held a news conference confirming he's leaning
toward a retirement announcement in the next day or two.
I just feel really that unless a miracle happens tomorrow morning, that either tomorrow or Saturday
morning I'll probably go make it official.
And no question he is the greatest ever in hockey.
The buzz leading by four runs right now in Tacoma.
We'll be right back.
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And imagine yourself in a Mercury.
Recapping our top story now, a 70-year-old man walks into the LDS Family History Library
and starts shooting.
He kills two, wounds four, then police kill him.
The injured are all expected to pull through.
He is Sergey Babarin, a schizophrenic who wasn't taking his medication.
Police found a truck nearby they thought belonged to the gunman.
They also thought it contained explosives, so they evacuated nearby buildings.
Turned out to be nothing.
Now, many people have been traumatized by this.
If you need help, call UnitedHealthcare at 1-800-667-8273.
Don't go away.
Nightline's up next.
Tonight's topic, why many Russians are beginning to hate America.
And join Doug and Amy tomorrow morning on Good Morning Utah.
They're enjoying sushi for Food Friday, at least.
Amy is.
Doug's not quite so sure.
Sushi for breakfast?
Of course, for them it's noon at 8 in the morning.
We'll see you tomorrow night at 5.30.
Good night.
April 15, 1999.