Farmington • A 25-year-old man died after Farmington police officers shot him in the parking lot of a post office Wednesday afternoon following a traffic stop, authorities said.
Chase Allan was taken to a hospital “where he was later pronounced dead,” according to a new release police sent just after 11 p.m. on Wednesday. Officials did not say where Allan was from, exactly when he died, or how many times he was shot.
Phil Rodriguez, president of the Utah Chapter of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said Allan was not a postal service employee.
Police initially pulled Allan over because he was driving without a license plate, Farmington police Chief Eric Johnsen said at a news conference on Wednesday evening. According to the news release, Allan became “non-compliant” with the officer who pulled him over in the parking lot of the Farmington post office at 145 E State St., and that officer called for backup. Four more officers arrived, and when Allan refused to get out of his car they tried to remove him from the vehicle.
During a “confrontation ... shots were fired” by the five officers “and the driver was injured.” Police did not say if Allan was armed or if he fired a gun, or how many shots the officers fired. None of the officers were injured, according to police.
Allan was shot while still in the blue sedan that police pulled over, Johnsen said. There were no passengers in the vehicle.
At the scene Wednesday evening, multiple bullet holes could be seen on the passenger side of the sedan as Johnsen spoke during the news conference.
First responders treated Allan in the parking lot before he was taken to a hospital. It is unclear if any bystanders were in the parking lot as the police shooting unfolded.
Officials closed off roads in Farmington from State Street and 200 East to Main Street and 100 East as police investigated. The five officers involved in the shooting will remain on paid leave until the investigation is complete, Johnsen said.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Farmington post office parking lot is surrounded with crime scene tape as forensics crews investigate the scene of a police shooting involving five officers following a traffic stop on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. The person shot was taken to a hospital. No officers were injured.
This marked the fourth police shooting in Utah this year, according to a Salt Lake Tribune database.
