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Sandy • About 150 members of a shattered community gathered Thursday night to mourn for neighbors and friends who died at the hand of a gunman two days earlier in a Sandy street.

On Tuesday afternoon, Jeremy Patterson, 32, drove his truck into the back of an SUV carrying Memorez Clark Rackley and two of her sons, another woman and her two children, before firing several rounds at them and then turning the handgun on himself, inflicting a fatal wound, police said.

Memorez Rackley, 39, and her 6-year-old son, Jase Rackley, were dead at the scene, and her 11-year-old son Myles Rackley and an 8-year-old girl, also riding in the car, were injured. The two Rackley boys involved in the shooting on Alta Canyon Drive (about 8630 South), near its intersection with Littlecloud Road (2175 East), attended nearby Brookwood Elementary, which had let out minutes before the attack.

The shooter's name was not mentioned at Thursday night's event in a church adjacent to the school.

Community leaders — including Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan, Police Chief Kevin Thacker and Canyon School District Superintendent James Briscoe — shared thoughts about the tragic events alongside faith leaders.

Bishop Alan Matheson — who oversees The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints congregation that includes the Rackley family — read an email sent to him by Memorez Rackley's husband, Dustin Rackley, expressing his love and support for other members of the community.

"There's so much strength and healing when people unite together and share their hugs, tears, stories," the email said.

The couple had separated before the shooting, said family friend Sarah Weaver in an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune.

Counseling is available through the school for students and parents, Briscoe said, offering to field calls on his cellphone if need be. Additional information on how to deal with trauma is available on websites for the district and police department.

The loss made members of the community "hug [their] children tighter," speakers said, but it also made them feel united through their loss and grateful for those who stepped up to help.

"We'll get through it," the police chief said before choking up and regaining his composure, "but we'll never be quite the same."

mnoble@sltrib.com

Twitter: @mnoblenews