'Hero Cop' Stops Valentine's Day Dinner to Save Lives

ByABC News via logo
February 14, 2007, 7:56 AM

Feb. 14, 2007 — -- A Utah police officer is being called a "hero cop" after springing into action to stop Monday's shooting rampage at a Salt Lake City mall.

Ken Hammond of the Ogden, Utah, police force was having an early Valentine's Day dinner with his wife, Sarita, when his quick thinking brought him face to face with a gunman.

On "Good Morning America," he told ABC's Chris Cuomo how the shootout occurred.

"We had a great dinner. Everything was normal, and then I started hearing some banging," Hammond said.

Bosnian immigrant Sulejmen Talovic, 18, was roaming the halls of the mall, shooting at random people. Shoppers hid in dressing rooms and bathrooms, sometimes huddling in the dark.

"The gunshots didn't stop. They kept going and going and going, and it was to the point where the noise was getting closer and closer and closer," said Lauren Bayly, who was at the mall with her two children and sister.

Hammond could see the chaos from the restaurant.

"I could see seriously injured people," Hammond said. "And I looked up and that's when I saw the guy with a shotgun. I went out of romantic-date mode into 'I need to protect' mode."

He pulled out his gun and proceeded to confront the gunman.

"He looked up. At that point I'm yelling, 'I've got my weapon out.' I'm trying to assure people in the mall that I'm an off-duty police officer," Hammond said. "I had already pushed my wife out of the way, and he just kind of looked up and fired in my general direction."

Hammond fired back. Although he had just eight bullets and no backup, he kept Talovic occupied until Salt Lake City police officers arrived.

For Sarita, the early Valentine's Day dinner was more eventful than she had planned.

"It was the scariest thing I've ever experienced," she said.

Although people across the country are calling Hammond a hero, he maintains he was just doing his job.

"I know anybody that I work with, given the same situation they would've done the same thing," he said. "It comes naturally to a police officer. That's why we do this job."