Woman fatally shot outside Salt Lake City nightclub, police say

A 29-year-old woman was shot and killed early Sunday outside of a nightclub in Salt Lake City, according to police, who are investigating her death as a homicide.

Police on Monday identified the woman killed as Nichole Olsen.

“This situation unfolded very quickly,” said Salt Lake City Police Department spokesperson Brent Weisberg at a news conference Sunday outside the Public Safety Building.

At about 2 a.m. Sunday, 911 dispatchers received a call, and “initially they couldn’t figure out what was going on,” Weisberg said. “It was an open line and there was a lot of screaming, there was a lot of chaotic noises in the background.”

While dispatchers were on the phone with the caller, they learned that someone had been shot at about 300 South and West Temple, according to a Sunday news release.

As Salt Lake Police Department officers responded to that area, they learned that Olsen’s friends had put her into a car and driven away.

Dispatchers told the driver to stop so first responders could help Olsen, but they kept driving, eventually stopping at a hospital, the release stated. Medical teams treated Olsen there, but she died.

According to the release, the shooting happened after an argument in a nightclub parking lot. Employees of the club had asked several people to leave, and while outside, the suspected shooter got into an argument with Olsen’s boyfriend.

During the argument, the suspect pulled out a gun and shot Olsen, police said. Then he and several other people got into a car and drove off.

“Our hearts are truly saddened by this sudden and unexpected loss of Nikki,” a GoFundMe campaign organized for Olsen’s family states. The campaign, which spells Olsen’s first name as Nicole, had raised more than $6,000 as of Monday afternoon.

Weisberg said police don’t know what the argument was about or which nightclub the two groups had been at. He said officers are still trying to determine a motive for the shooting.

In any emergency situation, “we would ask people to immediately call 911 ... and allow our officers to assess the situation and to bring stability to it,” Weisberg said.

Several witnesses may have left the area before police arrived, and Weisberg asked that those individuals contact police at 801-799-3000 and reference case No. 22-229528.

This is the 14th homicide in Salt Lake City so far this year.