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Police find woman associated with suspect in officer-involved shooting

Posted at 8:18 PM, Apr 01, 2014
and last updated 2014-04-02 09:51:01-04

SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City Police have found a woman they believe was a witness in a shooting that left two officers injured and the suspect dead Friday morning.

Police were searching for Melissa Medina, 36, who was traveling with the suspect Christopher Knight. She was found in California.

Knight is suspected of shooting Officers Mo Tafisi and Dan Tueller.

According to police, one of the officers stopped a Jeep Grand Cherokee with two men inside around 2:30 a.m. on Friday near 300 South and West Temple.

One of the men gave the officer some suspicious information, so the officer called for backup. When another officer arrived, the two attempted to get the passenger out of the vehicle.

The passenger, identified as Knight, 34, from California, opened fire on the officers as he was getting out of the vehicle.

Knight hit Tafisi in the arm and Tueller in the thigh. Burbank said the suspect was killed as the officers returned fire.

“Both officers were able to return fire, and kill the suspect, and maintain the driver, not allow him to leave the scene and called for help,” Burbank said in a press conference.

Detectives want to question Medina about a possible motive behind the shooting.