Sandy • A man died Tuesday night after federal agents shot him near a TRAX station in Sandy.
At about 5 p.m., agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives tracked the man to a vehicle across the street from the Historic Sandy station, 9000 S. 165 E., Sandy police Lt. Dean Carriger said.
Agents had a warrant for his arrest when they shot him, Carriger said. He didn’t say what prompted the shooting, only that agents fired “during their contact” with the man.
The wanted man was taken to the hospital and died later, Carriger said.
Other people were in the vehicle with the man, but no one else was injured.
Vanessa Vasquez lives on the corner of 220 East and 8960 South, a few feet from where the man was shot. She and a group of women stood in a neighbor’s yard in the aftermath of the shooting, watching as police moved about the area.
She said she was in her living room when her dogs’ persistent barking alerted her that something was happening outside. Then she heard gunshots, at least five.
When she went outside, Vasquez said, she saw the man handcuffed and bloody, lying on the ground on his stomach. He wasn’t moving or speaking.
“To me, he looked like he was dead,” she said.
Unified Police Department will investigate, as per valleywide protocol that requires uninvolved agencies to handle such shootings.
A Utah Transit Authority police dispatcher said the agency wasn’t involved. Sandy Police also didn’t participate in the arrest attempt, though their officers helped control the scene after the shooting.
