More than 25 people hit in rash of drive-by BB gun shootings in Salt Lake City suburbs

More than 25 hit in rash of Utah BB gun shootings

SALT LAKE CITY — A rash of drive-by BB gun shootings in the suburbs around Salt Lake City has left police and more than two dozen victims wondering who is carrying out the apparently random attacks.

People waiting at bus stops, a bicyclist riding home from work and pedestrians of all ages have been shot over the last two weeks, authorities said.

One of the first to be shot was Vicky Fitlow, who was walking down the sidewalk of a busy South Salt Lake street to pick up her car from a tire shop.

“I felt something hit my leg, and my first thought it was a rock from someone’s tires,” the 40-year-old from Park City said Friday. “Then I saw a hole in my pants, a hole in my leg and blood and thought, ‘Wait a minute, I think I heard the pop of an air gun.’ Then I put it together that I’d been shot.”

Doctors decided to leave the pellet in her leg, fearing its removal would cause even more damage.

Since then, police have investigated 27 other shootings in four cities, though some apparently missed their targets and damaged property.

West Valley City has reported 16 shootings, including five on Thursday. In South Salt Lake, four people were shot in less than two hours on Tuesday.

No one has been seriously injured but BBs have lodged beneath the skin of several victims. Witnesses have said the shooters were in a car and appear to be using a high-powered, compressed-air BB gun, according to investigators.

“If a person was hit in the right area, they could receive a life-threatening injury,” South Salt Lake police Lt. Gary Keller said.

Descriptions vary, but suspects are most-often said to be young men. No been arrests have been made and investigators were trying to figure out whether the incidents are connected or if some are copy cats.