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PROVO — The man suspected of fatally shooting a Provo police officer earlier this month has been released from the hospital and booked into jail on warrants from earlier incidents, Utah County Jail records show.
Matt Frank Hoover, 40, was booked Friday for investigation of joyriding and drug distribution, according to jail records.
Utah County Sheriff Sgt. Spencer Cannon said Hoover was booked on two warrants for charges he was facing before the shooting of officer Joseph Shinners, 29.
Shinners was fatally shot Jan. 5 when Provo and Orem officers responded to the Bed Bath and Beyond parking lot, 50 W. University Parkway, Orem, to arrest Hoover, who in the recent past allegedly had made threats of violence against police officers.
It appears Shinners was able to return fire, wounding Hoover, police say.
On Tuesday, Orem police detectives sent their case to the Utah County Attorney's Office to be screened for formal charges. Police are recommending that Hoover be charged with aggravated murder, possession of a stolen firearm, possession of a firearm by a restricted person, methamphetamine possession, evading, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, criminal mischief and possession of drug paraphernalia, Orem Police Chief Gary Giles told the Deseret News earlier this week.
It will be up to the county attorney to decide whether to charge Hoover with some or all of those counts. That decision could be made any day.
