SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s medical examiner has ruled that the November death of Stacy Hanson was a homicide resulting from the shotgun wounds he received during the 2007 attacks at Trolley Square.
The examiner updated Hanson’s death certificate with the findings in January, according to a copy his widow shared with FOX 13 News. It makes Hanson, who died in November at age 70, the sixth victim to die in the Trolley Square shootings. The others died the night of the attacks.
Salt Lake City police shot and killed the gunman, 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic, that night, too.
The ruling “adds another layer to the grief,” said Hanson’s widow, Colleen Hanson, “and, for me, it opened up wounds again that I thought I'd put to rest.”
In an interview Wednesday with FOX 13, Colleen Hanson described the years with her husband and efforts to limit access to guns.
The 6-foot-4-inch Stacy Hanson was “a mountain of a man” and in good shape before the shooting, Colleen Hanson said.
Then, on Feb. 12, 2007, Stacy Hanson was among those shopping for Valentine’s Day cards at Trolley Square. Talovic entered the mall with a pistol and a shotgun.
He shot Stacy Hanson with the latter – three times. The injuries left Hanson paralyzed.
“Stacy was so ill the first year,” Colleen Hanson said, “I had to get up and turn him every two hours so he wouldn't get bed sores.”
The Hanson family noted in his obituary that Stacy Hanson endured more than 30 surgeries. Colleen Hanson said when the couple tried to advocate for stricter gun laws, they were met with hateful online comments and messages.
“We seem to offer hopes and prayers to the victims and the survivors but that isn't solving the problem,” she said.
Anne Bagley doesn’t believe there’s been much movement on stopping gun violence either.
Bagley was at Trolley Square that night, too, to eat dinner with her two daughters and two granddaughters. They all escaped unharmed. The events spurred Bagley to volunteer with the Utah Chapter of Moms Demand Action. It advocates for safety measures to prevent gun violence.
“We never did meet with any of the actual lawmakers,” Bagley said. “We were handed off to their administrative assistants and different people.
“We felt like we kind of hit a roadblock, especially when we noticed that none of the people we were talking to were taking notes and kind of looking at their watches.”
“We want background checks,” Bagley explained, “and we want gun locks and just better legislation to make them less accessible for the wrong people to own guns.”
Congress in 2022 did pass expanded background checks and further limit firearms for people who commit dating violence, though gun control groups want more limitations. As for Utah, Everytown For Gun Safety ranks it the 35th best state for gun laws, noting that while Utah no longer requires permits for concealed carry of firearms, it has strengthened domestic violence protections.
Bagley and Colleen Hanson are not impressed.
“When I heard the statistic there’s more guns in this country than there are people,” Bagley said, “that let me know that whatever I did didn’t have much effect at all.”
There were prosecutions over the guns used at Trolley Square, but Colleen Hanson said it’s still too easy for people to buy guns.
“My heart hurts,” Colleen Hanson said. “It hurts. I'm Miss Stacy. We had a lot of plans for ourselves in the future.”
“And no one loves me like he did.”
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