SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah — A man was fatally shot by officers in Saratoga Springs overnight after police said he tried to flee from them and attempted to break into a home with a gun.
The incident began at around 11 p.m. Monday when Lehi police officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a 50-year-old man near Lehi Roller Mills, located on Main Street.
According to Lehi City, the man was pulled over for a traffic violation. A K9 unit present on scene detected the presence of drugs in the vehicle. When officers found drugs and confronted the suspect, he fled the scene and led a pursuit through Lehi, American Fork and Saratoga Springs.
The man drove away from officers, and although deputies with the Utah County Sheriff's Office spiked the car, deflating two tires on the passenger side, the chase was terminated as the vehicle entered into a different jurisdiction, officials told FOX 13 News.
Shortly after, officers found the man again near the Smith's Marketplace in Saratoga Springs.
“It was reported by one of the officers that the vehicle actually tried to ram one of the cars, or officers,” said Saratoga Springs Police Chief Andrew Burton.
The man went to a home on Canterbury Court and started fleeing on foot, police said. That's when officials said they saw a gun in his hand.
Dana Rich and her family woke up to police yelling and commotion right outside the home next to theirs.
“When you first wake up to something like that, you’re not real aware,” she said. “It was just a lot of yelling and screaming, and then I saw the flashing lights coming in through our window because of all the police officers' cars.”
The suspect eventually ran up to a door of a home and started banging on the door, police said. It was loud enough to wake the people inside the home, although the man never actually entered into the residence. Officers later confirmed that the family did not know who the man was.
“You’re in shock at first, like, 'Is this really happening right next door to us?' and then 'Could it have been our house?'” explained Rich. She also recorded of video of officers shouting: “Drop the gun, we want to help you.”
"Had he gained entry, we probably would have seen something much worse than we have," Burton said. "He's an armed individual, frantic, he probably would have taken them hostage. It was a family with children and it would have been a very ugly situation."
The family who lives in the home had no idea who the man was but may have seen the interaction unfold on their doorbell camera.
"I think it's important to remember that the job officers do is protecting the public, and in this case, I think that was accomplished," Burton said, adding that loud verbal commands by officers to drop the weapon and surrender were ignored by the suspect.
At some point, police officers shot at the suspect, killing him. When the man fell, Burton said he still had the gun in his hand.
“We couldn’t see him," Rich said. "His body was behind the bushes, but we could see the officers' bodies going up and down and they kept trading off. They tried to give him CPR for a good half hour."
While an investigation into the officer-involved critical incident takes place, three officers are on administrative leave.
One of the officers has about five years of law enforcement experience, another has about two years in the industry, and the third was only described by Burton as having "many years of experience."
"We encourage them to get counseling, we make sure that they know what the resources are that are available to them," Burton said. "Once they feel somewhat comfortable with things, we bring them on what's called 'administrative duty'... to kind of reintegrate or phase back, if you will."
The identity of the 50-year-old man who was shot and killed was not made available by police, but officials said he may be from Salt Lake City.
"This is pretty rare for our area, but I think one of the things that we do understand is that a lot of our crime, the suspects are not from our area. They're from outside our area," Burton said.
Police said the man did have criminal history, including some drug and assault offenses.
“It was really scary, but then again I felt safe because I felt the cops were really doing a good job,” said Rich.
