Police releasing few details about highway shooting

LOGAN — Police are releasing few details as they investigate what they are calling a “critical incident involving a governmental employee,” Tuesday afternoon. The investigation began after a man was transported to a hospital with two gunshot wounds, following a standoff with law enforcement and a traffic accident, south of the Idaho state line on US-91.

Logan City Police Chief Gary Jensen said the identity of the man who was shot is also not being released yet, other than to say, he is not the governmental employee who was also involved.

“We are still trying to wrap our head around the entire scenario, trying to understand how this whole thing came about,” said Jensen.

The incident began around 12:45 p.m. when 911 dispatch operators received a call complaining of an erratic driver on the state highway. Shortly after that, the same caller saw the vehicle crashed out in a field. A 250 lbs. pressurized gas line was hit when by the vehicle when it went off the roadway, causing a natural gas leak.

Jensen said Smithfield City paramedics were the first ones to arrive on site but the details of what happened next are still being sorted out.

“So you have EMS and bystanders trying to help get this guy out of the car. He gets out of the car at one point and gets back in the car. At that point, we are still not quite sure the what’s, the whys and the who’s, there is a shooting event.”

Investigators are not saying if the driver was shot by someone or if he shot himself. He reportedly had two wounds from a .40 caliber handgun, one to the chest and the other to the left shoulder.

A standoff ensued and SWAT teams were called after the man refused to get out of his vehicle. After about 45-minutes of negations, SWAT teams approached the vehicle and pulled the man from the car. He was unconscious. EMS transported him to the Cache Valley Hospital by ambulance. He was later flown to a regional hospital by helicopter. His current condition is unknown.

Crews spent over eight hours gathering evidence at the scene. Investigators have also removed the suspect’s car from the field and secured it. Jensen said they have a search warrant and plan to look inside it Wednesday morning.

“The car is going to hold some key issues as to the shooting scenario, the why.”

US-91 was closed to all traffic between Cove and the Idaho state line while crews investigated the shooting. It was reopened around 9:30 p.m.

The shooting is being investigated by the Northern Utah Critical Incident Investigation Team, a newly formed group made up of law enforcement agencies from Box Elder, Cache, and Rich counties.

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