A man is in custody after he exchanged gunfire with Orem officers early Thursday, police announced Friday.
According to a probable cause statement, police received a 911 call just after 4 a.m. Thursday about a family fight. When officers arrived at a home near 400 South and 700 East, the 31-year-old suspect’s wife told them that she had argued with her husband and, eventually, gone to the main bedroom with her two children and locked the door.
Her husband then broke through the door and yelled, “You’re done, you’re all done!” and began swinging his fists at her, she told police. As she shielded the children, she was struck multiple times, she said.
According to the woman, the man then left the bedroom and she heard a gunshot. She said she and her two children escaped through the bedroom window of the basement apartment and ran to a neighbor’s home.
Officers arrived and made contact with the man, who was armed with a handgun. According to police, the man ignored commands to drop the gun. When he came outside with the weapon, officers fired shots at him. The man then went back inside the apartment and, according to police, fired a shot.
A short time later, the suspect went to the front door and told officers that either he or an officer would die, police said. The man then said there was “no coming back from this” and that he would shoot officers.
“Let’s have a gunfight in the street,” he said repeatedly, according to the probable cause statement.
The man then came outside and again fired his gun. According to the probable cause statement, one officer said he “felt something hit his sleeve” and believed it was a bullet fired by the man.
No officers were injured, Orem police said.
Three members of a SWAT team then approached the home. The man fired “one or more” times at them before he was apprehended.
He was taken to a hospital to be treated for unspecified injuries, where he remained as of Friday. No update on his condition was available.
According to police, the shootout remains under investigation. The man is under investigation for suspicion of aggravated assault, attempted murder, child abuse, domestic violence in the presence of a child, criminal mischief, and intoxication. The Salt Lake Tribune generally does not name suspects unless they have been charged with a crime.
Thursday’s shooting marked the 15th police shooting in Utah so far this year, according to a database maintained by The Salt Lake Tribune. It was the second police shooting in four days — a man was killed in a shootout with South Salt Lake police on Monday.
Editor’s note • Those who are experiencing intimate partner violence, or know someone who is, are urged to call the Utah Domestic Violence Link Line, 1-800-897-LINK (5465).
