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SUNSET — A man is undergoing surgery after a Sunset police officer shot him early this morning.
At 1:19 a.m. dispatch received a 911 hang up call from 1089 N. 250 West. Following procedure, an officer was sent to the house to investigate. Sunset police now say the call was automatically generated from an alarm system inside the house after a phone was smashed.
Only one officer was on duty so he responded to the home alone. When he arrived, he could see through the glass door that there was a man with a handgun inside.
Sunset Police Chief Ken Eborn says the officer commanded the man, 42, to put the gun down, but instead the man fired one round into a wall. He then turned the gun toward the officer. The officer fired three times at the man through the door, hitting him all three times.
"The officer would not have returned fire without believing that he was in imminent danger of being fired upon," Eborn said.
A UTA officer who lives in the area arrived at the house as back-up. The injured man then was taken to Ogden Regional Medical Center. He was alert and talking as he left the scene.
Eborn says alcohol appears to be a factor in the incident. The man and his wife apparently were arguing before the man smashed the phone inside the house.
The suspect's wife and children were in the home at the time of the shooting, but Eborn says the children did not see what happened.
The chief says this shooting is surprising.
"I've been with the city going on 26 years. During my 26 years we have not had an officer shoot his weapon on duty," he said.
Eborn says the suspect does not have a significant history with Sunset police. They have contacted him in the past about minor things, but nothing that would indicate he would point a gun at an officer.
The Critical Incident Team has been called in to investigate this shooting. The team is made up of officers from other agencies around the county. The county attorney's office is the lead agency.
The officer involved in the shooting has been a policeman for less than a year and has been working graveyards for a few months. He will be placed on paid leave during the investigation, as is standard procedure.
Contributing: Nkoyo Iyamba
