American Library Association | Search ALA | Contact ALA | Give ALA | Join ALA | ALA FAQ | ALA Login

American Libraries



Site Navigation







Left Sidebar Items

Online Features
AL Twitter feed

Follow American Libraries news stories, videos, and blog posts on Twitter.

Kidnap Suspect Kills Himself
at Salt Lake City PL

A 29-year-old Salt Lake City man shot himself August 3 in the Salt Lake City Public Library while running from police wanting to question him about an attempted kidnapping five days earlier in a mall parking garage.

A library employee in the reference department recognized Gabrielle Castillo-Arno from a surveillance film aired on TV and notified a security guard who detained him. When police arrived, Castillo-Arno took off down a stairwell to the basement, then pulled out a gun and killed himself.

Library Director Nancy Tessman told American Libraries that police closed the stairwell and main entrance after the 2:50 p.m. shooting; however, she added, the approximately 200 patrons in the library were unaware of the incident because it transpired so quickly.

Tessman praised the staff's resourcefulness, pointing out their heroic actions in a similar incident in March 1994 when a gunman with a bomb took 10 people hostage (American Libraries, April 1994, p. 294–295).

Posted August 10, 1998.

Right Sidebar

AL Joblist
ALA Store





advertisement