Mom of Utah shooting victim: Gun owner should be prosecuted

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The mother of a University of Utah track athlete who was fatally shot by a sex offender parolee she had briefly dated says the person who loaned him the gun should be prosecuted.

Jill McCluskey made the comment in a tweet Tuesday in which she said “it is a great responsibility to own a gun.”

The 21-year-old Lauren McCluskey of Pullman, Washington, was killed on Oct. 22 by Melvin Rowland in a University of Utah parking lot in Salt Lake City.

University police chief Dale Brophy said on Oct. 25 that an acquaintance let Rowland use a gun after Rowland said his girlfriend wanted to learn to shoot. Brophy said the person had been duped and was cooperating with investigators and not facing charges at that time.

A University of Utah spokesman didn’t immediately return an email and phone call seeking comment.