Provo man yelled, 'You're gonna die' while shooting police officer, charges say

Provo police investigate after a Provo police officer
was injured during an exchange of gunfire with a man at Vista Ridge
Apartment Community in Provo on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021. On
Wednesday, Keith Justin Taylor was charged with three counts of
attempted aggravated murder.

(Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)


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PROVO — A Provo man injured in a police shootout was charged Wednesday with shooting a police officer and shooting at two others.

Keith Justin Taylor, 44, is charged in 4th District Court with three counts of attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, and illegal discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony.

On Feb. 25, police responded to a report of a man with a gun who was "acting crazy" and firing shots at the Vista Ridge Apartments, 80 S. 900 East, according to charging documents. The first arriving officers found the glass front door of the building "had been shot out."

Four officers then approached Taylor's apartment while carrying a shield. His door was open.

Taylor admitted to shooting out the front door because he believed that he was being harassed, according to the charges. He then allegedly told the officers that he worked for the Drug Enforcement Administration and the National Security Agency.

One of the Provo officers offered Taylor his cellphone, telling him he could call his supposed federal supervisor. When Taylor reached out to take the phone, police attempted to grab him, the charges state. Taylor was able to break free, however, and ran back into his apartment.

Keith Justin Taylor, 44, was charged in 4th District
Court with three counts of attempted aggravated murder, a
first-degree felony, and illegal discharge of a firearm, a
third-degree felony, on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. He is accused of
shooting a Provo police officer.
Keith Justin Taylor, 44, was charged in 4th District Court with three counts of attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, and illegal discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony, on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. He is accused of shooting a Provo police officer. (Photo: Utah County Jail)

"Three of the four uniformed officers followed (Taylor) into the apartment as he ran to a back bedroom. When he reached the bedroom, (he) grabbed an assault rifle off the bed and turned to the officers," according to the court documents.

Taylor then began "shooting rounds from the semi-automatic rifle as fast as he could fire the weapon," the charges say.

Officer John Oseguera was closest to Taylor and was shot in the abdomen.

"The other officers took defensive positions and returned fire. As (Taylor) was reloading, he was yelling at the officers, 'You're gonna die (expletive)'; 'This is your last will and testament,'" investigators wrote in the charges.

Oseguera, who was lying on a bathroom floor, was then shot again — twice in the legs — when Taylor either shot him through the door or reached around the door and fired, the charging documents state.

Oseguera responded by firing "an entire magazine through the wall" at Taylor.

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The other officers were then able to provide cover for Oseguera, who was able to walk out of the apartment on his own but had to be rushed into emergency surgery "to remove a bullet near his spine and repair a broken leg," the charges say.

After a final barrage of gunfire from the officers, Taylor surrendered and was taken into custody. Taylor was treated at a local hospital for injuries his sustained in the shootout before being booked into the Utah County Jail two days later.

Prosecutors have requested that Taylor remain in jail and be held without bail pending trial.

The day after the shooting, Provo police reported that Oseguera "was alert and in good spirits" and that his recovery "will take time."

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Pat Reavy interned with KSL NewsRadio in 1989 and has been a full-time journalist for either KSL NewsRadio, Deseret News or KSL.com since 1991. For the past 25 years, he has worked primarily the cops and courts beat.

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