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KEARNS — A 17-year-old boy was shot and killed in the Kearns High School parking lot early Sunday in an apparent robbery gone bad.
The shooting occurred at 1:49 a.m. at the high school, 5525 S. Cougar Lane.
An 18-year-old man who was "selling a product" was alone in the parking lot when a vehicle arrived with four people inside, said Unified Police Lt. Melody Cutler. Police said the product was not drugs but didn't elaborate.
"Two people get out of that car and they both have guns," she said.
The man then raced to the trunk of his car to retrieve his own gun. "While that's happening, one of the males that have a gun come around to the side of his car and are pointing a gun at him. So our 18-year-old male starts to run away while he's shooting at them," Cutler said.
That's when he shot a 17-year-old boy — one of the gunmen, she said. The shooter then flagged down officers nearby.
The boy was transported to a hospital where he died from his injuries.
Police were looking Sunday for the other three occupants of the vehicle.
While the shooting is considered a homicide, the 18-year-old gunman was not arrested. Police are investigating the possibility of the shooting being in self-defense. An ultimate determination will likely be made by the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office.
