John Pochynok is a respected Summit County builder; Natalie Turner was an admired Idaho community leader. They once were married. But now she is dead, he is seriously wounded and a third man, John Gayler, is in jail after a Friday night incident that started as an argument, became a high-speed chase and ended in a fatal shooting by police.
"The (crime) scene is almost impossible to describe," Summit County Sheriff Dave Edmunds said Saturday. "It's one of the most bizarre incidents I've ever been involved with."
Detectives are a long way from sorting out all the details, but they say it appears that Turner and Gayler went to Pochynok's home for the specific purpose of harming him, Edmunds said. Turner, 31, suffered at least five gunshot wounds after she pointed a .357 magnum at officers from Edmunds' department and the state Division of Wildlife Resources and they opened fire, Edmunds said.
She was one of two people shot and killed by Utah police officers on Friday.
In a separate incident earlier in the day, deputies from the Uintah County Sheriff's Office and officers from the Bureau of Indian Affairs responded to a domestic dispute call at a home on the Uintah-Ouray Reservation, which also ended in a fatal shooting, FBI spokesman George Dougherty said. A female in the home had called police, he said.
Ernie Martinez, 40, twice opened fire on officers, Dougherty said. Officers fired on Martinez after the man shot at them the second time. It is unknown how many times Martinez was wounded, or which officers fired on the man, who was dead at the scene.
An autopsy was conducted Saturday and an investigation is continuing, Dougherty said.
An autopsy may also be needed to determine which of Turner's wounds contributed to her death. Police know she was hit by gunfire from officers but believe she may also have been hit by a bullet from the same gun that wounded Pochynok, her ex-husband.
Edmunds said his deputy fired one shotgun round at Turner while the DWR officer shot his pistol once. They gave Turner every opportunity to put down her gun before they fired, he said.
"She leveled the pistol and aimed at one of the deputies, and that's when she was shot," Edmunds said. "Because she was a female, she was afforded a lot of opportunity to drop the gun. Notwithstanding, they had to take action when the gun was pointed at them. They felt their life was in imminent danger."
Pochynok, 50, was shot at least twice, although detectives don't know if Turner or her boyfriend, Gayler, pulled the trigger, Edmunds said. Nor do they know exactly when Pochynok was shot. It could have been at Pochynok's home, 12774 N. Deer Mountain Blvd., where he reportedly argued with Turner and Gayler.
Or it may have been in the silver Mitsubishi, which police stopped on U-248 after a brief high-speed chase. Officers reported hearing two gunshots when the car was stopped. Pochynok was listed in serious condition at University Hospital Saturday night.
Gayler, 31, was also wounded but not seriously. He was treated and then booked into the Wasatch County Jail for investigation of attempted homicide.
The Summit County deputy involved in the shooting has been placed on paid administrative leave pending investigation of the incident, Edmunds said. The DWR officer is also believed to be on leave, although no one from the DWR could be reached for comment. DWR officers often provide back-up to Summit County deputies in remote areas of the county, Edmunds said.
A Utah Highway Patrol trooper was also on the scene but did not fire his weapon, Edmunds added.
Women have rarely been the victims of officer-involved shootings in Utah.
The most recent such incident was last year, when a woman was shot and killed during a SWAT team raid at a Provo motel. And December of 1997, a 17-year-old girl was shot and killed by Salt Lake police in a parking lot after a stolen-car chase. The officer fired because he believed the girl had a weapon in her hand when she turned to face him, raising her arms. The girl was holding a hairbrush.
Pochynok is the owner of Pochynok Construction in Park City and a past president of the Home Builders Association of Summit County, said Al Coelho, who is also a Park City builder. Pochynok worked on statewide building issues and had often testified before the Legislature.
"He's a respected builder in the area and a past president of our association," said Coelho. "John is a gentleman, a very quiet, almost staid man. He's kind of almost like an English gentleman in the way he acts."
Pochynok, also a civil engineer, had studied at Georgia Tech and had been in the Park City building community for more than 10 years, Coehlo said.
Turner was living in Hailey, Idaho, where she was working as the executive director of the Hailey Chamber of Commerce.
"Charming, capable, totally immersed in what she was doing," chamber President Jeff Bertz said of Turner Saturday night. "My first exposure to her was after a review committee had interviewed her and said, 'this one's all tens across the board.' "
Turner had taken over the chamber reins a few months ago and was working hard to build the organization, said Bertz. Each time the chamber board set a goal for the organization, Turner rose to the occasion, he said.
"You can't come up with enough superlatives about the job she was doing," he said. "I'm stunned."
Bertz said he often saw Turner with Gayler in Hailey but didn't socialize with them and knows little about Gayler. Bertz said he thought Gayler worked in a technical or computer field.
Turner and Pochynok's private life appears to have been far different from the public personas that drew them accolades. Sheriff's deputies had been to their Park City home at least three times on reports of domestic disputes, and Turner had sought a protective order on Pochynok, Edmunds said.
"There's a sordid history there," he said.
E-mail: jdobner@desnews.com; jody@desnews.com