Grieving Scottish mom slams America’s gun laws and the ‘teenage culture of hatred’ after her son Rory Swimm, 23, was fatally shot in Utah by teen, 15, following an argument outside a 7-Eleven

• A Scottish mother said ‘There is a lack of culpability in America’ after her 23-year-old son was shot dead in Utah, the family are now using the tragedy to highlight gun culture in the US

A heartbroken Scottish mother is speaking out against US gun laws after her 23-year-old son was shot dead by a 15-year-old in Utah this past October. 

According to the Salt Lake City Police Department, Rory Swimm and two friends got involved in a dispute with a group outside of a 7-Eleven on October 12. 

Just before 2am in the early hours of the following day, Swimm was killed by a member of the other group outside of an apartment building. The gun, a 9mm pistol, had been a gift given to the shooter by his grandfather. 

‘There’s a lack of culpability in America. It’s totally fine that you can go out and shoot somebody because it happens all the time here,’ Swimm’s mother, Susan, told the BBC in a recent interview. 

The victim was born in Dundee, Scotland, to a Scottish mother and American father. The family moved to the US when he was just six weeks old, settling in the city of Vail in Colorado.

In an interview with the BBC, Susan Robb described the police arriving at their home to tell him that their 23-year-old son had been shot dead 

Rory Swimm was a dual US and British citizen, having moved to Colorado at just six weeks old 

Rory had a love for skiing, shown here, he planned to become youth coach in the sport

Susan went on to speak about a ‘culture of hatred’ that is prevalent in the US. 

‘I don’t believe for a single minute that we can change any of the gun laws in America, but I feel that today within the teenage youth there’s a terrible culture of hatred.’

‘Instead of raising kids to be positive in society, they’re being struck down by all the negativity that’s out there,’ she said. 

Swimm’s father, Robb, went so far in the BBC interview to propose a boycott of the US over gun laws similar to boycotts that South Africa endured during the apartheid regime. 

‘I don’t want my son to just be a statistic, I want him to be remembered in a way that’s positive. The repercussions of this little act of a finger pulling a trigger ripples in so many directions,’ he said.

The teenage suspect in the shooting apparently used to go shooting with his grandfather every week. 

According to the police, he told his friends that he shot the gun in the air and didn’t aim for Swimm. 

His death was the 14th homicide in Salt Lake City this year, which is still among the lowest rates of any major city in the US. 

The second 15-year-old who was involved in the shooting has been released without charge. 

In a heartbreaking obituary, Rory Swimm was remembered for his ‘ear-to-ear’ grin

‘[He] killed my son. [He] needs to pay for the crime of murder, not be released into the loving arms of his mother,’ Susan Swimm said at a court hearing in November. 

At that hearing, the teen was remanded in custody. He will face another hearing in January to see if he will be tried as an adult. 

‘These guys, little egos, they wanted to be big men that day. They all wanted to be the big man. That’s how they need to be treated now, like big men,’ Robb Swimm told ABC Utah in October. 

Swimm was about to graduate from Salt Lake Community College and move to Montana to take up a welding job. 

The Dundee-native lived in Bozeman for a time after leaving high school. In addition to his welding job, Swimm also planned to coach young skiers. 

Robb spoke about his son’s aptitude for skiing at a celebration of his life that was held in Vail, Colorado on October 21. 

‘Rory tried soccer, it wasn’t good. Martial arts, now that was comedy. Lacrosse, Rory was out there chasing butterflies, and if you came into his little area he would just whack you whether you had the ball or not.’

‘But put skis on him, and he was a natural. He was so good at skiing that people told me he needed to compete, but he didn’t have a competitive bone in his body, just did not care about winning the trophies … he just wanted to ski,’ he said. 

His love of skiing was also mentioned in his obituary. 

‘A passionate skier, Rory went from being a competitive mogul skier in his youth to embracing freestyle and big mountain skiing. Images are forever imprinted in our hearts of wild aerials and acrobatics accented by his ear-to-ear grin,’ the tribute read. 

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Swimm’s family through this difficult time. 

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