Two police officers responding to a domestic disturbance call were shot and killed in Utah and a man was taken into custody after bystanders persuaded him to drop the gun, authorities said Monday.
A sheriff’s deputy and a police dog were shot and wounded in their car as they arrived to help at a neighborhood in Tremonton on Sunday night. The deputy from Box Elder County was released from the hospital Monday and the dog was hospitalized 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 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 the 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 man to put down his weapon, police said. Up to 50 officers from multiple agencies responded. SWAT teams arrived to clear the home and verify that there was no further threat, police said.
The ranch-style home was cordoned off by yellow crime scene tape Monday. A trampoline and a blue children's pool could be seen on the front lawn.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox called what happened “a terrible and tragic night." He posted online that he joined the state in mourning the loss “of these courageous law enforcement officers."
The man was arrested on charges of aggravated murder, police said in the news release.
The names of the officers and the suspect have not been released.
Tremonton, which has about 13,000 people, is in northern Utah about 75 miles (121 kilometers) north of Salt Lake City at the junction of Interstates 15 and 84. It advertises itself as “a favorite midway stop for vacations" to destinations such as Yellowstone National Park, Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon. It also calls itself “Utah's City of Murals” with a walking tour featuring 18 works of public art.
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The story has been updated to correct the first name of the police chief to Chad.
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