Two weeks after shooting, shop owner is looking to relocate
Apr 22, 2019, 1:10 PM | Updated: 1:11 pm
This photo from a fundraising site established for the Hassans shows their shop, Princess Alterations, boarded up after the April 8 shooting. Source: GoFundMe
SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah — Two weeks after a dramatic police chase that ended with a crash and shooting at a State Street alterations shop, the business owners say they are looking to relocate.
Thaer Hassan was inside his shop, Princess Alterations, at 3339 S. State Street in South Salt Lake, when the driver of a pick-up truck being pursued by police crashed into their store. Then bullets started flying.
Saadiyah Hassan says her husband was working in the back of the store when it happened. He immediately called his wife.
“He was screaming, ‘Help me! Help!’ I said, ‘What happened?’ He said, ‘I don’t know what’s going on in here,'” Saadiyah Hassan remembered.
Harold Robinson, 37, was killed, but the effects of the violent event linger for the Hassans. The shooting left Princess Alterations boarded up. The interior walls and a large amount of clothing inside are riddled with bullet holes leftover from the shootout. There is still glass, shattered and broken, on the floor.
In spite of all of that, the Hassans say they are grateful — Thaer Hassan had just stepped away from his usual work area when the crash and shooting took place.
“He’s very lucky,” Saadiyah Hassan said. “He said, ‘God blessed me.'”
The Hassans have had to close up shop while the insurance company assesses the damage. They plan to rebuild, but say it will be somewhere else after the trauma of what happened on April 8. Their son launched a GoFundMe to help them relocate, showing pictures of the damaged shop.
