TAYLORSVILLE — Two men are hospitalized, two men are in custody and police were searching for one more person involved in a confrontation between the driver of a stolen vehicle and a group of motorcycle riders Tuesday night.
Unified police were attempting to unravel what happened after an accident at 7:26 p.m. at the intersection of 5400 South and 1900 West. A group of about two dozen motorcycle riders was heading west as part of their weekly “Taco Tuesday” ride when one of them was struck by a Jeep making an illegal turn into a parking lot, according to Unified Police Sgt. Melody Cutler.
“That Jeep made a (right) turn from the center lane into the parking lot here, striking a motorcyclist,” Cutler said. “The motorcyclist followed him into the parking lot, and in this parking lot an altercation occurred. During that altercation, shots were fired by one of the motorcyclists, as well as another citizen who saw what was occurring.”
Cutler said one of the motorcyclists in the group asked the driver of the Jeep to exit the vehicle “because he’d just hit someone.”
“That Jeep began to back up over a motorcycle,” Cutler said. Multiple witnesses then said a motorcyclist pulled out a gun.
“(A) citizen who was in the parking lot seeing the altercation had no idea that there had been an accident, and that that was what was going on,” Cutler said. “(He) just saw someone pull a gun, got out with his gun, and several shots have been fired. The Jeep then fled the scene.”
The driver of the Jeep called police a few minutes later to let them know the Jeep had been abandoned in the parking lot of a car wash about 4700 S. Redwood Road.
“(The driver) called in and said they’d left their friend there,” Cutler said. “The driver then fled the scene.”
When police arrived, they found a man in his early 20s who’d been shot, presumably when shots were fired at the scene of the confrontation.
“He is currently in critical condition at IMC,” Cutler said of the shooting victim. “The motorcyclist who was hit (by the Jeep) is also at the hospital, and he is in fair to serious condition.”
Police took both of the men who fired shots into custody, and Cutler said both were cooperative with investigators.
“Our violent crimes unit is out here, and they will be doing an investigation to determine exactly what happened and what, if any, charges will be filed from this,” she said.
Police were searching for the driver of the Jeep. Cutler said the Jeep had been reported stolen out of Weber County Tuesday morning.