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SANDY — A retired Salt Lake City police officer was found dead of a gunshot wound at his home Wednesday.
Investigators are treating 63-year-old Kevin Meik's death as a homicide.
"Initially they thought it was possibly a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It was several hours later they were able to determine it was not self-inflicted," Sandy Police Sgt. Jon Arnold said.
Arnold would not reveal more Thursday about why investigators believe Meik died at the hands of someone else. He declined to answer questions about whether a weapon was recovered at the home or where the gunshot wound was located on Meik's body.
"We're able to determine (it was a homicide) through the investigation. That information, at this point, we're not going to go any further with," Arnold said.
An autopsy was scheduled for Thursday.
Meik was last seen Tuesday night when he went out to dinner with family members. After dinner, Meik, who lives alone, went to his home near 9000 S. Waters Circle.
Meik suffered from significant health problems and had a doctor's appointment scheduled for Wednesday. He was supposed to meet a friend at the appointment, Arnold said. When Meik didn't show up, the friend called family members, who then called police and asked them to drive by the house to check on him.
"Initially they thought it was possibly a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It was several hours later they were able to determine it was not self- inflicted. -Sgt. Jon Arnold
Officers arrived at Meik's house about 1:40 p.m. A family friend who met the officers at the house let them in. There were no signs of forced entry, Arnold said.
"He went in and found him, just saw his feet in a doorway," he said.
Meik's body was found in a bedroom. As of Thursday morning, Arnold said there was "nothing obvious" that was missing from the house. There were no leads on possible suspects Thursday or on a motive.
"We are interviewing all the family members, talking to them about family friends, just going through the initial interviews. But there's nothing right now that would lead us to his prior employment (as a motive)," Arnold said.
Meik was with the Salt Lake City Police Department from 1974 until he retired in 1988.
Anyone with information on the case can call police at 801-799-3000.
