SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The parents of the 23-year-old man fatally shot in Salt Lake City earlier this month say the pain of losing their son is “unbearable.”
“I would never wish this on any other family,” Susan Swimm, the mother of Rory Swimm, told ABC4. “I don’t understand why it keeps happening to families in this country. I don’t understand it, I don’t.”
Her son was fatally shot on Oct. 13 on the corner of 600 East and 200 South. She and her husband heard the grim news from detectives that day.
“It’s a nightmare that you don’t wake up from,” said Robb Swimm, Rory’s father. “This is forever, it’s forever for all of us, and it’s one bullet.”
Rory Swimm was a student at Salt Lake Community College. He was days away from graduating and heading up to Montana, where he had a welding job waiting for him.
According to investigators, Rory was shot outside an apartment building in the Central City neighborhood. Two 15-year-olds had allegedly tracked Rory down following an argument with him and fled the scene after one of them fired the fatal bullet.
Less than a day later, a SWAT team and other task forces arrested the two teenagers after executing search warrants at several homes.
Both of the 15-year-olds were booked into the Salt Lake County Juvenile Detention Center. Due to their ages, their names have not been released.
Swimm’s parents are demanding that the teenagers be held accountable.
“These guys, little egos, they wanted to be big men that day. They all wanted to be the big man,” Robb Swimm said. “That’s how they need to be treated now, like big men.”
One of the 15-year-olds accused in the shooting is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.
The other teen was released from detention last week. Court documents show the state doesn’t plan to file charges against that 15-year-old at this time.
