DRAPER, Utah – The Latest on an anonymous tip to police about a Utah man who wanted to kill his ex-girlfriend and himself just before he killed her and her son (all times local):
4:15 p.m.
Police in Utah say an anonymous tip hours before a man fatally shot his ex-girlfriend and her son did not give them enough information to stop the slayings before they happened.
Draper Police Deputy Chief John Eining said Wednesday the officer properly checked out the tip that Jeremy Patterson said he wanted to kill himself and his ex-girlfriend. But the tipster did not answer the officer's calls and searches of police databases did not pinpoint the right man.
If Patterson had been found, Eining says the only possible violation police could have given him would have been a citation. Police in the Salt Lake City suburb did not know that victim Memorez Rackley reported to a different department days before that Patterson had been stalking her relentlessly.
The tip came to Draper police on June 6 about three hours before Patterson opened fire on Rackley and a car full of children.
Patterson killed himself. Two more children were wounded.
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1:06 p.m.
A police report shows Utah police were investigating an anonymous tip about a man who wanted to kill his ex-girlfriend and himself just before he killed her and her son.
The report provided Wednesday by police in the Salt Lake City suburb of Draper was in response to a public records request from The Associated Press.
It says the tipster called police about 32-year-old Jeremy Patterson after getting a message from Patterson saying he wanted to kill his girlfriend and himself.
An officer was investigating the call June 6 in the hours before Patterson killed Memorez Rackley and her 6-year-old son. Patterson then killed himself.
The report says the officer tried calling the tipster and searched police databases for Patterson's name without success.
Draper police did not immediately comment.
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