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OGDEN — A man suspected in a business break-in suffered wounds that are not believed to be life-threatening after he was shot by an officer during a confrontation outside of a transmission repair shop Wednesday morning, police said.
A customer dropping off a vehicle at AAMCO Transmissions, located at 3076 Wall Avenue, noticed the front door glass was broken and called 911 shortly after 7:30 a.m. An officer responded to the report of a possible break-in minutes afterward, said Ogden Police Deputy Chief Eric Young.
The officer located a man who was "concealing himself" inside a room. The man refused to follow the officer's commands before he began to attack the officer "with an item in his hands" after the officer went back to the parking lot, Young said.
The officer fired two shots that struck the man, including one bullet that hit his upper torso. He began complying with the officer after shots were fired and received medical assistance at the scene, Young added.
The man was transported to McKay-Dee Hospital where he was in "stable" condition, according to Ogden Police Lt. Brian Eynon.
Young did not identify the man who was shot, only describing him as a white male in his 30s. The man had previous arrests and is believed to be homeless.
"My initial review of the evidence leads me to believe the theft of any equipment or money was not the intention of this suspect today," Young said.
The officer who encountered the man was hired in 2017, according to Ogden police. The Weber County Attorney's Office will investigate the incident — as well as the original break-in call — and Ogden police plan to have its own internal investigation.
Young said the entire incident was caught on the officer's body camera and was logged in as evidence. The video will be released to the public "after consultant with the Weber County attorney." The officer will be on paid administrative leave pending the result of the investigation.
Young said he believed the incident highlights a need to address addiction and mental illness.
"There must be a greater effort on the part of society as a whole to mitigate this growing illness in our population, specifically our growing homeless population," he said. "If we want to reduce the violence in our communities and reduce the number of life-threatening situations for our police officers and first responders to deal with within our community, it's something we've got (to address)."
