1 injured, 1 taken into custody after Eagle Mountain standoff


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EAGLE MOUNTAIN — One person was shot and injured and another is in custody following a standoff after police responded to a domestic dispute Monday in an Eagle Mountain neighborhood.

Sgt. Spencer Cannon from the Utah County Sheriff's Office said emergency responders got a call around 1:45 p.m. about multiple shots being fired in a home in the Eagle Park community of Eagle Mountain.

The shooting occurred near 4654 N. Kestrel Way and Cannon said when deputies arrived they found a man with severe bleeding in his lower abdomen. Police said the victim is in fair condition and was taken by medical helicopter to a hospital.

A news release from the sheriff's office said "the victim reported that Mark Samuel Roberts, who lives in the home, fired several rounds through a wall at him but missed. Roberts then stepped out into an open room and shot the victim."

Cannon said multiple other people were in the line of fire and Roberts retreated into a bedroom and would not come out for a few hours. Several agencies responded to the scene including the Utah County Metro SWAT team and Roberts would not negotiate with them at first, the news release said.

"At length, sheriff's office negotiators established contact with Roberts and at about 4 p.m. he left the gun on a bed and came out of the bedroom, surrendering to SWAT Team members," Cannon said in the news release.

The Utah County Sheriff's Office tweeted at 4:48 p.m. that the "suspect in the shooting on Kestrel Way ... surrendered peacefully and is now in custody."

Cannon said the police booked Roberts, 61, into jail for investigation of "several serious charges" including attempted murder, two counts of felony discharge of a firearm-shooting in the direction of a person, two counts of aggravated assault-domestic violence, and two counts of assault-domestic violence.

Roberts is currently being held without bail, police said.

Police are working to investigate the situation that seems to have stemmed from a family dispute. A neighbor told KSL that the homeowner was shot by his brother-in-law and the dispute was over the care of the elderly father.

"Whatever the argument was, obviously nothing justifies what happened," Cannon said. "Pulling out a firearm in a situation like this is never OK."

Alpine School District issued a shelter-in-place for Cedar Valley High School, Frontier Middle School, Mountain Trails Elementary School and Eagle Valley Elementary School earlier Monday afternoon.

Students were unable to leave the school or be picked up for almost two hours, but at 4:15 p.m. Eagle Mountain officials tweeted the all-clear.

"Suspect is in custody and was taken without incident. Schools are now open and students are free to be picked up and Pony Express Blvd is now open to motorists," Eagle Mountain officials said.

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Cassidy Wixom covers Utah County communities and is the evening breaking news reporter for KSL.com.
Andrew Adams
Andrew Adams is a reporter for KSL-TV whose work can also be heard on KSL NewsRadio and read on KSL.com and in the Deseret News.

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