This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A gun-wielding man shot during a confrontation with a Sunset police officer investigating a domestic dispute-related 911 call remained in serious condition Tuesday.
Sunset Police Chief Ken Eborn said no change had been reported in the 42-year-old man's condition since early Monday morning, when the man — allegedly drunk, combative and conscious despite three gunshot wounds to the abdomen — was rushed to Ogden Regional Medical Center and underwent surgery.
Eborn said an officer went to the home, at 1086 N. 250 West, about 1:20 a.m. Monday after the man's alarm company automatically called 911. It turned out that the suspect had smashed a telephone during an argument with his wife, and that triggered an alarm and the 911 call.
When dispatchers tried to call back, all they got was static, so they asked the officer to check on the occupants, Eborn said.
When the officer arrived, Eborn said the officer spotted the suspect inside his residence, carrying a handgun. The officer ordered the man to drop it, but he instead fired a shot into a wall of his home and then — despite repeated commands to disarm — pointed the weapon toward the officer.
The officer, who has been with the Sunset police force just under a year, fired three times through a glass storm door.
Eborn, noting efforts to notify the suspect's family were ongoing, declined to formally identify the suspect on Tuesday. However, public records indicate Juan Carlos Ramirez, 42, lives at the home. Ramirez has no criminal record beyond a few traffic citations, according to court records.
Eborn did confirm that alcohol had been a factor in the incident, and that doctors at Ogden Regional had described the suspect as arriving in a "pretty intoxicated" state.
The suspect's wife and the couple's children were inside the home at the time of the shooting, but none of them was injured.
Eborn said this was the first officer-involved shooting in Sunset during the 26 years he has been on the force.
The officer involved has been placed on paid leave pending completion of a shooting review.