Two police officers were shot and killed in a northern Utah city, and a man was taken into custody, authorities said Monday. A third officer was wounded in the shooting, they said. No civilians were harmed.
The officers were responding to a domestic disturbance call late Sunday in a neighborhood in Tremonton. The wounded officer, a sheriff’s deputy, and a police dog who also responded were hospitalized for their injuries and in fair condition, police said.
“These officers are definitely heroes,” Police Chief Chad Reyes in neighboring Brigham City said at a news conference Monday morning.
“We really don’t know what we’re walking into,” he said of domestic disturbance calls. “And they are one of the most dangerous events that we can be dispatched on.”
Police said they received multiple 911 hang-up calls from a home in the city. A single officer from the Tremonton-Garland Police Department arrived first and was speaking to someone at the home when a man came out with a gun, police said in a news release.
Reyes said he believed the man lived at the house.
“The male opened fire on the officer, striking and killing the officer,” the news release said. A second officer from the department who responded “was immediately fired upon by the same male suspect” and was killed, it said.
After the officers were shot, bystanders persuaded the suspect to put down his weapon, police said. SWAT teams responded to clear the home and verify that there was no further threat, police said.
“Upon arrival, they immediately began taking fire,” Police Detective Crystal Beck of neighboring Brigham City told reporters. “They requested additional units. And then stopped answering their radio.”
Beck said once additional police arrived, “they were able to locate the subject of the shooting and take him into custody.” He was in custody at the Box Elder County Jail, according to the detective.
The man was arrested on charges of aggravated murder, police said in a news release. His name was not immediately released.
“I think it leaves a big impact when any officer is involved in something like this,” Beck said. “It affects not only the officers here in our community but also all over Utah, all over the nation.”
Tremonton, with a population of about 10,000 people, is located roughly 75 miles north of Salt Lake City.
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