Sergei Babarin

On Thursday, 15/4/99, Sergei Babarin walked into the Mormon Family History Library in Salt Lake City and opened fire. Why?

I doubt even Sergei knew, but I guess I could fill you in on the story a bit and let you figure it out for yourselves.

So, who was Sergei Babarin?
He was a 71 year old Russian immigrant that lived with his wife at St. Mark's Tower, a home for the elderly at 650 S. 300 East. His family claim was schizophrenic. They say he was diagnosed in New York during the late 80's, but Utah officials claim that he only suffered a mild case of depression.

Either way, Sergei was on a pretty strong prescription that seemed to make him 'normal'. But the problem was that, according to Sergei's wife of 49 years (their 50th anniversary was in November), Zoya Mikhailovna Babarin, Sergei had stopped taking his medication a few weeks earlier. the reason why was that he thought it was poison.

But that alone couldn't have been enough could it?
At that time you may remember that NATO decided they needed to save the world (and Bill Clinton's political career) by attacking Kosovo. According to Sergei's son this led to Sergei reliving his own youth, particularly a bad time he had under attack from the Nazi’s in Russia. Apparently he especially hated Hitlers boys. So much so that following his assault his wife claimed that, "He was shooting Nazis at that library."

Also in the weeks leading up to Sergei's day in the sun he would accuse everyone around him of being spies. His son, his wife, even people walking past his windows.

Okay, enough of this, what happened at the Library?
Sergei wore his usual getup for a walk into the city (which he took most days), a long coat and baggy pants and a cap pulled low over his eyes. Most people were used to seeing the old man, and most disliked him as he had no manners at all.

And as he also did most days, he headed into the library. But this is where his usual schedule changed. Instead of being rude to the first person he saw, he shot them.

First struck was a woman sitting behind the reception desk a little before 10.30am. Babarin then casually proceeded from the lobby toward the orientation room, randomly shooting as victims fell and others threw themselves under desks for cover.

Babarin then calmly and methodically roamed through the building, even stopping once to reload. Before police had a chance to arrive there were two people dead, security guard Donald Thomas, 62, and Patricia Frengs, 55. There were also quite a few people injured, yet only four of those would require an overnight stay in hospital. Maybe they were the only ones with medical insurance.

But I guess it had to end for Sergei though, and at 10.32am police arrived. One officer was grazed by a bullet from Sergei, and I guess he very quickly learned that whatever you do in the good ol' USofA, you don't fire on police. Ever.

I reckon you can guess what happened to Sergei. Yep, he was fatally wounded by police. Or at least that's what the press were told. Interestingly he was not loaded into an ambulance until 45 minutes after being shot, and was pronounced dead in the ambulance. Can anyone else smell something fishy?

Luckily for the four people seriously wounded, all women, they were able to be taken to area hospitals straight away. One, aged 80, was shot in the face but was expected to fully recover, another aged 45 was in stable condition and a third aged 71 was in critical condition with a head wound. A pregnant woman also fell into a false labor. I guess the excitement was all too much for her.

The .22-caliber handgun was concealed in an umbrella prior to the shootings.

An international genealogical convention had attracted heavy traffic to the library.

"I saw one man fall and his legs were flopping up and down like you see on television."

Local press quoted Neighbours as saying that greeted people in the hallway by clicking his heels together and saying "Heil Hitler." Obviously he wanted to fit in with the 'spies.'

"I did not hear him say anything. He didn't call out, no names or anything. He just kept his hand held out pointing at people."

Sergei and Zoya Babarin first settled in New York in 1981 after leaving Russia. Sergei, a toolmaker by trade, worked as a lathe operator.

"He didn't say anything. He just came in and started shooting people. He was an older gentleman."

"He just looked intent on what he was doing. He came to do what he was doing,"

Babarin was arrested after a 1995 fight at a department store in downtown Salt Lake City. He had been carrying a .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol and was charged with assault and carrying a concealed weapon.

In May, 1998, a bicyclist told police that Babarin stuck an umbrella in the bicycle spokes as he rode by and accused him of being a spy. No charges were brought.