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We have new information tonight about a standoff in Farmington that ended when police shot a man to death. That man's own call to emergency dispatchers and past police reports indicate he may have wanted police to kill him.
Brian Wood's call to 911 initiated what would be a 12-hour-long standoff. He was eventually shot to death in his driveway. He was involved in another standoff with police six months before. What he told them gives some insight into his state-of-mind.
A police report from March indicates that Brian Wood admitted to being suicidal at the time. He told officers he'd rather die than go to jail. One officer also said that Wood expressed a similar sentiment to him, and that he'd, "take some officers out" if he had to.
In the 911 call, Wood told the dispatcher, "Yeah, I just beat and raped my wife. Come get me." After that he hung up.
When the dispatcher called back, Wood's wife answered the phone distraught. She told the dispatcher, "It's OK, his dad's here now. It's fine, his dad's here now. I'm fine."
When the dispatcher said she was sending an officer to the home, Wood's wife replied that she didn't want to talk to anyone. "The last time they came it didn't do me any damn favors. I do not want anybody here," she said.
A family friend told us Wood's wife was referring to a domestic incident between the couple in March, which led to a standoff with Wood. A police report from March 12 says Wood's wife told officers Wood "had assaulted her."
The friend says Wood "grabbed her arm and brought it around to her backside, causing her pain, and then forcibly removed her wedding ring."
An officer who made contact with Wood during the March incident says Wood "wanted to end his life." After four hours, Wood surrendered to police. In an interview, Wood told them it would be easier "to take a bullet" than go to jail. He also said he became angry because "he felt his wife was leaving town to have an affair".
At that time, police arrested Wood for domestic violence. They took 15 firearms from his home.
One of Wood's relatives says his statement to the 911 dispatcher that he assaulted and raped his wife is not true.
We still don't know what caused the officer to fire the shot that killed Wood. The Attorney General's Office is still investigating.
E-mail: syi@ksl.com
E-mail: tcallan@ksl.com
