SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – With a bandolier of shotgun shells under his trench coat and a backpack of ammunition on his shoulder, Sulejmen Talovic stepped out of his car at a crowded shopping mall and immediately began shooting.

The 18-year-old gunman fired randomly at anyone in his line of sight, police said, trying to kill as many people as possible.

After hearing the gunfire, an off-duty police officer who was having an early Valentine’s Day dinner with his wife jumped up from his seat at a restaurant and cornered the suspect, exchanging fire with him until other officers arrived and killed the assailant.

A day after the shooting, Ken Hammond was credited with helping stop the teenager’s deadly rampage, and investigators struggled to determine why Talovic targeted shoppers with a supremely calm look on his face, killing five people before police surrounded him.

Talovic wanted to “to kill a large number of people” and probably would have killed many more if not for the off-duty officer, Police Chief Chris Burbank said Tuesday.

“There is no question that his quick actions saved the lives of numerous other people,” the police chief said.

Police said it was not immediately clear who fired the shot that killed Talovic, who was armed with a shotgun and a .38-caliber pistol.

Investigators knew little about him, except than he lived in Salt Lake City with his mother, the police chief said. He was enrolled in numerous city schools before withdrawing in 2004, the school district said.

Talovic’s aunt, Ajka Onerovic, emerged briefly from the family’s house to say relatives had no idea why the young man attacked so many strangers. She said the family moved to Utah from war-torn Bosnia.

“He was a such a good boy. I don’t know what happened,” she told Salt Lake City television station KSL.

Talovic drove to the Trolley Square shopping center – a century-old former trolley barn with winding hallways, brick floors and wrought-iron balconies, and immediately killed two people, followed by a third victim as he came through a door, Burbank said. Five other people were then shot in a gift shop, he said.

Four people who were wounded remained hospitalized Tuesday, two in critical condition, two in serious.

One of the wounded shoppers, Shawn Munns, 34, was alone outside the mall after a meal with his wife and two stepchildren when Talovic blasted him with a shotgun, according to sister-in-law Jodie Sparrow.

With dozens of pellets embedded in his side, Munns staggered into a restaurant and warned diners about the gunman, Sparrow said.

Outside the mall, candles and flowers were left as memorials to the victims, who were identified as Jeffrey Walker, 52, Vanessa Quinn, 29, Kirsten Hinkley, 15, Teresa Ellis, 29, and Brad Frantz, 24.

Hammond’s boss, Ogden Police Chief Jon Greiner, said the state Senate wants to honor him.

“Thank goodness he was there,” said Greiner, who is also a state senator. “You don’t want to ever say it’s good we were there and killed somebody, but it’s probably good someone was there.”

Accountant Jeff Barlow was on a date at another restaurant when he looked outside and saw the gunman firing from the hip.

“I thought it was some kind of joke – some kind of movie or stunt,” Barlow said. “I didn’t believe it was happening. And then I saw a man go down in a courtyard. I realized this was serious. These are real bullets flying around.”

His date, Stephanie Bronson, added: “Just crazy. Absolutely terrifying.”

David Dean, who owns a greeting-card store at the mall, said three or four people died inside his store, which was packed with Valentine’s Day shoppers.

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Associated Press writers Doug Alden, Jennifer Dobner and Debbie Hummel contributed to this story.