MikShorty

If you see flashing police car lights 50 yards in front of you, what is the first thought that crosses your mind?

Tonight, around 9:15 p.m., my thought was, I hope everyone is okay… whatever it is that is going on.

Well, the cop car was sitting on the opposite side of the street, between the TRAX station and the sidewalk. I started walking to the platform, pulling out my tap-on-tap-off card and a police officer notices me.

“Ma’am, we can’t have you go that way.”
“Why not?”
“We have a situation so we are blocking off the street.”
“Is everyone okay?”
“Well, there is a bomb threat. I don’t even think I should be telling you. Please don’t tell anyone.”
“Don’t worry; I won’t.”

I could say that because I couldn’t I didn’t see many other people and my phone was dead. The only people I saw were on the sidewalks on either side of the street–the people the police redirected because of the “situation.” I was by myself.

So I sat on the end of the platform, saw police run back and forth between Gallivan Plaza, even saw a man in a white shirt but thought he shouldn’t be back there because the police closed off the area. He was talking with them though, it appeared. Little did I know, that man was the one that said he had a bomb. He was armed too, apparently. I wouldn’t find that out until I watched the news when I got home.

I asked the cop if I could walk to the train when it passed by and he informed me that there wouldn’t be a train. That the area was being completely blocked off. Lovely.

How on EARTH was I supposed to get home?

So I continued to sit for a few minutes and watch as about 5 more cop cars showed up to block off the surrounding streets. I even saw an impatient driver drive around the cop car to access the blocked off street. The police officer I spoke to then adjusted his car to cover the whole street.

The caution tape was rolled out right in front of me, no more than seven feet away.

I was in dumb shock. A) Because someone had an explosive that could ruin central Salt Lake. B) Because I was wondering how I would make it home if there was no train. And C) Someone could very well blow us all to hell if the police don’t get this under control.

My mind was racing at about a million miles a minute. The tears were threatening me… after a couple fell, a kind-looking female cop approached me. She asked me if I was a witness–which I was not, but that doesn’t mean I was any less rattled. I said no… I just wanted to get home.

She asked me to follow her. She took me kitty-corner from where I was sitting (where a crowd had gathered) and told me all train activity through there would be stopped. Because my brain was so scrambled, I was so grateful when she said the Red line from the University would still be running. The closest stop for that was a little over a couple blocks away. Not too far of a walk. I dried my tears and walked south to the next stop.

A TRAX train that was supposed to head north where the street was blocked off was stopped there. People on board, trying to get downtown, probably not knowing why they weren’t already at their destination. So I finally leaned against a wall and sunk to the ground, trying not to think that a bomb could ruin my hometown.

After a few minutes, I noticed people getting restless and wondering what was going on. So I informed them all that there was a “police situation” (keeping my word to the police) and that the road was being blocked off… which meant no Green or Blue line trains would be coming through any time soon, but that hopefully a Red line train would. They were all very gracious that I was able to tell them what was up.

It was at that point when I realized that I was meant to be a messenger for those people waiting for the train home.

The TRAX train that was stopped came back to the original Courthouse stop and announced that “due to a situation, it was now heading to Sandy.” Bingo — my ride home.

The entire time home, as I watched several TRAX trains backed up passed by us, I wanted my phone to not be dead. I wanted to talk to someone. I wanted to know what time it was. I wanted to know just what the hell was going on downtown… thinking surely someone on Twitter or Facebook would be talking about it.

I finally get home and plug in my phone. My first message (well, there were two) that came up was from my mom. Are you home? And Are you okay? I had no doubt she knew something about the happenings downtown so I turned on ABC 4 news. Yep, they had reporters on the scene.

ABC 4 being my old stomping grounds, I tweeted at one of the anchors saying that I bumped into this mess trying to get home… she asked me if I wanted to call in. I originally said, I probably wouldn’t contribute much, but I called anyway. They said they would pop me right into the live news cast.

Cue my heart pounding like a damn hummingbird right at the base of my throat.

I wanted to hang up… but I didn’t. I told them what I saw when I got there, that it was scary and hard to absorb (and also stupidly and accidentally mentioning a competing news station because that’s right by where the bomb threat was, and I said “crap” more than appropriate for a news show).

Then I was mortified… I kicked myself for calling. I felt like I didn’t give much more pertinent information to the story.

So here is my blog telling the whole story. A) To get this off my chest so my heart rate can return to normal. B) I’m much more eloquent while writing. For example, I didn’t even edit this before I posted it. All raw stuff right here.

This is to make up for my shoddy TV call.

Now, I am still watching the news. Seeing that a SWAT team has detonated the device and the suspect has been shot… it’s not known yet if he will survive. It’s also not known what was in his backpack. The area is still closed though. It’s being said the investigation will be going on all night.

Hope you all are safe at home in bed. Give your family and friends a hug, will ya?

UPDATE: The suspect, Anthony Mayhew, was killed by the officer’s one shot. He died at the hospital. As for his backpack, police confirmed on Sept. 28 that it did contain a potentially explosive device. Scary man…