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OGDEN — Police are investigating after an officer shot and killed an 18-year-old man Tuesday afternoon in Ogden following a pursuit.
Ogden Police Deputy Chief Eric Young said the incident unfolded as Ogden detectives were helping Woods Cross detectives find a man linked to several armed robberies in Weber and Davis counties.
"In one of those robberies, the attendant at the 7-Eleven was pistol-whipped with the gun," Young said.
The detectives found a stolen vehicle they believed the suspect had been driving at an apartment complex near the 300 block of 7th Street, Young said, and police deployed a tire-flattening device on the vehicle.
While detectives were watching the apartment, the suspect "entered the stolen vehicle and attempted to drive away," Young said.
The man fled with the flat tire and officers pursued him to 12th Street and Depot Drive. During the pursuit, the suspect struck two drivers' vehicles and a police vehicle, Young said.
He said the chase did not reach high speeds as the suspect's vehicle was disabled.
When officers approached the vehicle and told the driver to get out, the suspect pointed a gun at an officer, prompting that officer to fire several shots at him. He died later in a hospital, Young said.
"This is an unfortunate loss of a young man and we empathize with his family that will be grieving," Young said.
Police said the 18-year-old was Hispanic, but did not release his name pending notification of family members.
Weber County's critical incident team will investigate the shooting. The officer who shot the man was placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
"We are proud of this officer and the brave actions he took to protect our community. Please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers," Young asked. "The last thing a police officer ever wants is to be involved in an officer-involved shooting."
No officers or bystanders were injured.
Young said the man who died was one of three suspects linked to a series of armed robberies in the past two weeks. Police continue to search for one of the other suspects, Young said.
Nicole Mark, who witnessed Tuesday's incident, was driving east on 12th Street about 3:15 p.m. While she was stopped at a stoplight, she saw a white SUV flying through traffic with three police cars in pursuit.
She said the westbound SUV blew through a red light, hit a vehicle that was turning left onto 12th Street and "just kept driving through," before spinning.
"It narrowly missed my car and the car behind me," Mark said.
But the driver "kept gassing it" and hit two other cars behind her before three officers got out of their cars and approached the passenger side of the SUV, she said.
The driver "clearly wasn't responding," Mark said, and she heard the officers open fire. She heard four to five shots and soon saw a man who had been in the SUV taken away in an ambulance.
"When you heard the gunshot, then it sort of resonated. Like, 'Oh my gosh, this is an active shooter situation.' And that definitely was more alarming than anything," Mark said.
"I was a little shaken up for a few minutes. Kind of shaking, because narrowly missing a traffic accident, that always kind of freaks you out a little bit, but hearing the gunshots, that definitely was a little freaky."
She said traffic in the area was heavy but everyone stopped and stayed in their cars during the incident.
"When we all … saw that the police were out with their guns and everything, everybody just stayed still … it was just sort of like, 'They've got this under control, we're not going to move and get out of our cars. Because you don't know how intense the situation might get,'" Mark said.
The shooting was Ogden's second fatal officer-involved shooting in five days. On Friday near 2500 Washington Blvd., Ogden police approached a kidnapping suspect who opened fire on them before two officers shot and killed him.
Young said both suspects killed in the recent officer-involved shootings came to Ogden from outside the state. The incidents are not reflective of the city's safety, he emphasized.
"Ogden City is on track for a record-setting reduction in crime this year," Young said.
