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LEWISTON, Cache County — A man was hospitalized Tuesday after suffering gunshot injuries in a police standoff that followed a crash near the Utah-Idaho border.
The man was taken to a nearby hospital and then transferred by helicopter to another hospital outside of Cache County, said Logan Police Chief Gary Jensen. He was in critical condition Tuesday night, but was expected to survive.
The incident began around 12:45 p.m. when a woman called police to report a man driving recklessly on U.S. 91 near Lewiston.
The vehicle was spotted a short time later where it had crashed at the side of the highway. Emergency responders from Smithfield said the man inside the car was "somewhat uncooperative" with them, according to Jensen. Police arrived and a standoff ensued for about 45 minutes.
At some point, someone on scene reported shots had been fired and "numerous" agencies responded, Jensen said. Officers were later able to extricate the man from his vehicle after he had suffered at least one gunshot wound, Jensen said.
Jensen didn't provide details about the gunfire that ultimately injured the man, simply saying the shooting was a "critical incident involving a governmental employee."
"This one particular governmental employee is employed in two different governmental capacities," Jensen said of the person who shot the victim, without elaborating.
The identity of the man who was shot and his age were not released Tuesday. Nobody was in the car with him, Jensen said.
"We're still trying to figure out who shot and how many times and where those bullets went," the chief said, adding that he believes the man had a gun with him, but he didn't have other details about what the man may have done with it during the standoff.
The police chief called the incident "a difficult scene to try to put together and understand."
"First of all, we have somewhat of a standoff," Jensen said. "Second of all, we have what I was told there was a … gas line that was fractured and ruptured, spewing gas out, complicating the scene dramatically."
Gas spewed from the line as a result of the crash, making the scene of the shooting even more dangerous, Jensen said. The line was shut off, he said.
Another complication was the amount of snow in the area, Jensen said. He said officers were busy melting snow with propane torches in order to find the bullets that were fired. Police were also waiting to serve a search warrant on the crashed car Tuesday evening
U.S. 91 was closed in both directions throughout the afternoon and into the evening while officers examined the scene, according to Jensen. The Utah Highway Patrol will investigate the crash, while Logan police will head the Northern Utah Critical Incident Investigation Team in its investigation into the shooting.
Contributing: Brian Champagne, Nicole Vowell
