OGDEN — A man who police described as “unstable” who had broken into an auto repair shop was shot by an Ogden police officer Wednesday as the officer was trying to get away from the man, according to police.
The man, whose name was not immediately released, suffered injuries not considered to be life-threatening, said Ogden Deputy Police Chief Eric Young. The officer was not injured.
The incident happened about 7:30 a.m. at AAMCO, 3076 Wall Ave. A customer arrived at the shop to drop off a vehicle and noticed the glass pane in the front door was broken out, Young said. The customer called 911.
The first arriving officer was a woman who has been with Ogden police for three years, the deputy chief. She went inside the store and found the man “concealing himself in a room. The suspect refused to follow commands,” Young said.
After not obeying the officer’s commands, she attempted to leave the building and wait for backup. But as she was leaving, the man advanced on her with an undisclosed object in his hand, Young said.
“The suspect attacked the officer with an item in his hands. The officer fired two shots, striking the suspect,” he said.
The officer had exited the business and made it to the parking lot when the shooting occurred, Young said. The man was struck in the upper torso. The confrontation was captured on the officer’s body camera.
After making sure the man was secured, the officer applied lifesaving measures until paramedics arrived, according to Young. No one else was nearby when the shots were fired, he said. Employees were just arriving at the time and entering from the back of the shop.
Young said based on prior interactions with the man, he is believed to be homeless. He said the man was gathering undisclosed items and laying them out in the shop, including what were described as some “sharp-edged” items. But Young does not believe the man was attempting to steal cash or burglarize any other items from the business.
Although Young did not disclose what police believe the motive was, he did take time to address the problems of drug addiction and mental illness.
“Unaddressed mental health concerns and drug addiction have consequences in our society. Individuals who are unstable due to addiction and mental health illness are dangerous to you and to those who protect you. There must be a greater effort on the part of society as a whole to mitigate this growing illness in our population, specifically in our growing homeless population,” the deputy chief said.
“If we want to reduce violence in our communities and reduce the number of life-threatening situations for our police officers and first responders to deal with in our community, it’s something we’ve got to get on top of as a society.”
Young said he is grateful that no one was seriously injured, including the officer.
“I thank God none of our officers were injured, by all means,” he said. “I believe the actions of our officer averted what could have been a tragic situation for our officer or one of the employees of this business this morning.
“The public fails to realize the consequences of these shootings on police officers. I realize this is tragic for the suspect’s family and the suspect. This is a tragedy for our police officers. And we’ve had far too many of these tragedies in the past couple of years. I’ve dealt with these for 28 years in a law enforcement career, and I’ve seen the effects they have on law enforcers for the rest of their careers,” Young continued.
In May, officer Nathan Lyday was shot and killed in the line of duty after just 15 months on the job.
Wednesday’s officer-involved shooting will now be investigated by the Weber County Attorney’s Office and an internal review by the police department will be conducted.
