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Man found dead in home after standoff with SWAT team in Provo

Posted at 9:16 AM, Jul 08, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-08 20:50:20-04

PROVO, Utah -- A man is dead after police were called to a home near 1700 South and 600 West in Provo Sunday.

A woman told police her husband was at the home even though she had filed a restraining order against him last month.

She said he threatened to kill her, and as as she ran from the home, she heard several shots being fired.

Police quickly told nearby residents to stay inside and shelter in place.

"What we knew was there was a man with a hand gun and that he had fired it," Provo Police Detective Nick Dupaix.  "So we made sure to shut down the neighborhood to make sure all of our citizens were safe."

Police tried communicating with the man, later identified as 31-year-old Richard Austin who had barricaded himself inside the house.

"We had a negotiation team out, we had a drone team out, we had a bomb squad out and we were trying to do every means that we could to try and communicate with Richard, but we had no response from him for several hours, Sgt. Dupaix said.

After firing tear gas into the home to try to force the man out, police entered the home.

They found Austin dead inside the master bedroom.

The cause of death is being investigated.

"This was a father and this was a husband and this isn't something that a family looks forward to," Sgt. Dupaix said. "There's going to be a lot emotions with this and a lot of grieving afterwards."

He also said it will take some time to sort everything out.

"I'm sure there's going to be a lot of questions, if this could've been handled differently or if this could've been done differently," Sgt. Dupaix said.  "But unfortunately this is the outcome that we have."