Grantsville community gathers to mourn family of four who were shot and killed

Grantsville • Residents here gathered Monday night to share stories about the four family members shot to death Friday and to offer support to the boy accused of the killings.

“Because it sounds like that’s somebody that really needs to be loved,” said Diane Passey, one of the mourners who spoke to the crowd at the vigil.

The Grantsville Police Department earlier in the day released the names of the four victims. They are Consuelo Alejandra Haynie, 52, and her children, Alexis Haynie, 15; Matthew Haynie, 14; and Milan Haynie, 12.

A fifth victim and father of the family, Colin Haynie, 50, was also shot, but he survived and has been released from the hospital. Police declined to say the injuries he suffered. The alleged shooter did not suffer injuries.

Police say a juvenile suspect who is related to the family is in custody after being arrested at the hospital. Police did not identify the boy, but his name was said aloud multiple times at Monday’s vigil and he was described as another of the Haynie children.

The Salt Lake Tribune generally does not identify juvenile suspects unless they have been certified to stand trial in adult court. Formal charges have not yet been filed against the boy, said Grantsville police Cpl. Rhonda Fields.

Fields said police were called to a home in the small town about 35 miles west of Salt Lake City around 7 p.m. Friday. Inside the house at 93 Eastmoor Drive they found the four victims. Colin Haynie and the alleged shooter were already on their way to the hospital. Fields said the people who drove Colin Haynie and the suspect to the hospital are not related to the family.

The suspect faces four counts of aggravated murder, one count of attempted aggravated murder, and multiple counts of felony discharge of a firearm. Those charges may change as more information is pieced together, Fields said.

She said the biggest question about the killings are why they happened.

“While we may not be directly able to answer that, we hope to be able to gather some information to be able to help people in [the] future to be able to prevent something like this or offer support to those who may need it."

Few other details have been released as the investigation continues. Fields said police do not yet know when the crime started and ended. So far, the only confirmed information has been the names and ages of victims. Fields said police did not have prior interaction with the family.

She did say the suspect is not cooperating with police.

Friday’s rampage was among the state’s worst mass shootings and Grantsville’s first homicide in at least 20 years. It appears to be one of the largest mass shootings in Utah since 2007, when a shotgun-wielding gunman killed five people and himself at Trolley Square mall in Salt Lake City. In 2014, a Lindon police officer shot and killed his estranged wife, his mother-in-law and his two young children before turning his handgun on himself.

“There’s not a lot of crime in this small community. When we do [have it], it’s of a smaller nature,” Fields said.

A few hundred people holding candles gathered Monday in Grantsville City Park, where the temperature was 28 degrees, to remember the Haynies. Grantsville Mayor Brent Marshall said his town has grown stronger and more united since the killings, and he called on residents to continue that unity.

“That would be the greatest honor you can give this family,” Marshall said.

When the microphone was made available for speakers, there were stories of youth soccer games, some played in the same park; of Alejandra Haynie, as she was known, cooking for her family and for those soccer teams; and stories about the Haynie kids being friends with other Grantsville kids.

Logan Menning, 14, walked to the microphone and recalled going on Boy Scout trips with Matthew and his brother. He said spending time with the Haynie boys would be one of the highlights of the trips.

“They were always the kind of people who would put a smile on your face and make that trip worth it,” Menning said.

Over the past couple of days, community members have consoled one another while also working to raise money for the surviving family members to use for medical and funeral expense. As of Monday night, $85,000 of the $90,000 goal had been donated.

Patty Deakin-Daley, who started the fundraiser, told FOX 13 she is overwhelmed by support from the community.

“There’s people, that I know are out of work, that just donated five dollars,” Deakin-Daley said. “I certainly never expected that I could keep raising it and raising it and raising it and people just keep stepping forward.”

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