This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Shawn Munns just doesn't dwell on it. Or at least, he tries not to.
As Utah marks the fifth anniversary of the Trolley Square shootings, Munns is focusing on "business as usual."
"I'm fine," said Munns, 39 and a father of three. "I'm just a day-in, day-out kind of guy."
Once in a while, Munns said, something will remind him of that day's events, but it's a passing thought. Friends and family usually check in around this time of year, too, he said.
But, "it is not at the front of my mind a lot," said Munns, an assistant controller at the Larry H. Miller Group. "I just processed it and moved on."
Munns describes his involvement as "a lot smaller than anybody else's. I wasn't nearly as heavily impacted as any of the other victims," he said.
But he was among those who may have kept Talovic's rampage from being even worse.
Talovic had already shot two people — Jeffrey and A.J. Walker — by the time he emerged from the parking terrace at Trolley Square and made his way toward the mall's west entrance.
That's when he spotted Munns, who had just left his wife and children after a birthday celebration. Talovic leveled the shotgun and fired twice, striking Munns in the back with both blasts. Munns dropped to the ground, then got up and ran toward what was then the Hard Rock Cafe, where he alerted others a shooter was on the loose. He also called his wife and told her to drive away from the mall as fast as possible.
Spray from the blasts left Munns with 75 to 100 pellets in his body, which require him to take a "lead removal" pill several times a day. The medication has kept levels "well contained," he said.
"I'm lucky to not have any lasting effects at all,"said Munns, who lives in Syracuse. "I can't think of anything that stands out as different. I am still the same guy."