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SOUTH SALT LAKE — A man who killed an elderly woman and critically injured her husband was shot and killed by police Sunday.
The tragic scenario began about 10:35 a.m. South Salt Lake Police Chief Jack Carruth said family members of an elderly couple near 450 E. Stanley Ave. (3180 South) routinely call to check up on them. Only this time, a man they did not recognize answered the phone.
"When they called in, he answered the phone. They didn't know who it was. They asked who it was. Some choice words were exchanged and he hung up on them," he said.
Family members called 911 and also drove to the house. When family members arrived, the intruder answered the door. More words were exchanged before the man said, "I'm taking them hostage," and shut the door, Carruth said.
Although the family members who called and went to the house did not recognize the man, Carruth said investigators believe the man is somehow related to the elderly couple.
When police arrived, they too attempted to talk to the man. But as they approached the house, a shot was fired from inside the home out the window, he said.
In addition to South Salt Lake officers, Unified police's SWAT team was called to the scene. While they were arriving, police attempted to talk to the man through his cell phone. But Carruth said contact with the man was lost when he became agitated and threw his phone through the front window, breaking it.
The man, using either a second cell phone or one of the elderly resident's cell phones, then called the other family members, the chief said. As family members talked to the man on one phone, they talked to emergency dispatchers on another, who in turn relayed what was being said to police on scene, said Carruth.
The agitated man then made threats, "saying he is going to kill the elderly couple," Carruth said.
The SWAT team was still arriving on scene. But when the threat to kill the couple was made, Carruth said three SWAT members in full gear formed an Immediate Action Team — consisting of one South Salt Lake officer and two Unified officers — to get in position in front of the house. The members "engaged" the suspect through the window that had been broken out, and shot and killed the man, Carruth said. It was not immediately known if one or more officers fired or what prompted them to shoot.
Inside the house, police found the elderly woman deceased and the man critically injured, he said. Both are in their late 70s to early 80s. Her cause of death was not immediately revealed.
Investigators were analyzing comments the man made to police on a recorded phone line in an attempt to find a motive. As of 1:45 p.m. Carruth said there were many unanswered questions.
