Two men were killed late Thursday in separate police-related shootings.Salt Lake police detective Shawn Josephson shot and killed Raul F. Jiminez after the man shot at another officer and attacked him with scissors.
An Orem father died after an exchange of gunfire with police outside his home.
Jiminez, 19, suffered at least two gunshots to his side during the fight in a room at the Overniter Motor Inn, 1500 W. North Temple, about 11 p.m.
Two Salt Lake vice officers were at the motel on a prostitution investigation when they encountered a man who appeared to be selling drugs.
After a brief conversation, the man fled by climbing onto the roof of a building on the motel's east side. Josephson and detective Lane Heaps responded as backup.
The two went straight to Room 132, where the fleeing man was first spotted. After knocking, Jiminez answered the door, then tried to shut the officers out. Once inside, Jiminez attacked Heaps with a pair of six-inch-long scissors, said Capt. Norm Thompson.
The two began wrestling and Jiminez somehow got Heap's gun and fired at least once.
Josephson, who had been trying to detain another of the room's occupants, shot Jiminez.
The man who fled after climbing onto the roof had not been located Friday morning.
Mike Emery, who works security for the motel, said officers have had to respond to incidents there every night for the past week. On Wednesday, a man was held up at knife point. The night before it was a drug bust.
"It's scary," he said.
Thompson said the city plans a hearing later next month on whether the business can be deemed a public nuisance and therefore closed.
"This is sort of the straw that broke the camel's back over there. We're very concerned about the number of calls for service to that location."
Salt Lake Police Chief Ruben Ortega and Deputy District Attorney Bud Ellett along with several other top police brass were at the scene Thursday night.
State law allows officers to shoot if they believe it "necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to the officer or another person."
The department's policy is more stringent, stating deadly force can be used only when all reasonable alternatives have been exhausted or appear impractical. Josephson was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation of the shooting by the Salt Lake District Attorney's Office.
- The shooting in Orem came after a dispute between Douglas R. Cox and his wife.
Orem Lt. Mike Larsen said investigators don't know whether Cox, 40, died from a self-inflicted wound or from a police bullet; however, he suffered more than one wound. The state medical examiner's office will conduct an autopsy.
Officers arrived at the Cox home, 222 N. 1200 West, about 6:50 p.m. Larsen said Cox's wife left the house and called police after arguing with her husband.
Gunshots rang out from the house shortly after police got there, Larsen said. Officers returned fire and cordoned off the area. They also called in the Utah County Special Emergency Response Team. After making contact with Cox, officers talked him out of the house about 2 a.m.
"When he came out, officers tried to take him into custody and he fired at them," he said.
Police shot back as Cox ran back into the house. Officers entered the home about 40 minutes later to find him dead, Larsen said.
Larsen said he doesn't know how many shots were fired in all during the standoff. No officers have been suspended and the incident remains under investigation, he said.