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OREM — A man was hospitalized on Thursday following a shootout with police in Orem.
At 4:10 a.m., officers were dispatched to a home in the area of 400 South and 700 East on the report that a man might have fired a gunshot during a "possible family fight," Orem police said in a statement.
When police arrived, they made contact with the man, who was in a basement apartment. The family in the apartment was able to exit the home and were taken to a "safe location," police said.
While officers tried to negotiate with the man, he stepped out of the house with a gun and "exchanged gunfire with officers on scene several times," according to the statement.
While police did return fire, no officers were injured in the exchange, said Orem Police Lt. Nick Thomas.
Police said the man came out of the house again after several hours of negotiation. He was then taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries he received during the incident. Police did not elaborate on the extent of his injuries, or say whether they were caused by the exchange of gunfire or self-inflicted.
Neighbors described tense moments of hearing gunshots and seeing snipers on the roofs of nearby homes.
"I heard what I thought was maybe three shots," said Bliss Tew, who lives across the street. "Then I heard about bang, bang, bang, bang, maybe four more."
"You don't expect it here," Tew said. "Everybody was calling each other. Everybody was concerned in the neighborhood."
Another neighbor said he called dispatch to make sure the situation wasn't a training.
"I scanned to the right and there were snipers on the roof," said Sterling Lewis. "It's definitely action that we normally wouldn't see around here."
The Utah County Officer-Involved Critical Incident team will investigate.
