A Utah County car chase and shootout that injured two people on Wednesday started after police tried to pull over a man who had shot out his pickup truck window because he had locked himself out of the vehicle.
The man, 37-year-old Arturo Ray Gallemore-Jimenez, was in Nephi on Wednesday evening when he locked his keys inside his truck, according to Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Cannon. He apparently didn’t want help from some passersby who had stopped and offered to call the police to help him unlock the truck.
“It seemed that his primary reason for not wanting their help is that they wanted to call the police to come and get his keys out of his car,“ Cannon said. “... He didn’t want anything to do with the police coming.”
He shot the truck window out at about 6 p.m. and drove onto northbound Interstate 15, Cannon said. After the report of shots fired, police officers tried to pull the truck over near Springville, and he fled, firing shots back at the officers.
Officers returned fire, and Gallemore-Jimenez — who was reportedly wearing body armor — was wounded in the neck and arm, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. His injuries are not life-threatening.
Stray bullets hit two passing cars, according to Cannon. One hit a 21-year-old Provo man in the shoulder. His injury was also not life-threatening. Bullets also struck a second car and “narrowly missed” its occupants, a man and his 4-year-old son, Cannon said.
At some point, two of the pickup truck’s tires were flattened, and Gallemore-Jimenez was driving about 30 mph down the freeway, according to the news release.
The chase continued about another nine miles north up I-15, until Gallemore-Jimenez crashed into a fence near the University Parkway exit in Orem, according to police.
No officers were injured, Cannon said.
Gallemore-Jimenez may have been involved in a recent shooting in Aurora, Colo, according to police.
Aurora Officer Kenneth Forrest said his department wants to talk to Gallemore-Jimenez regarding his possible involvement in an early Wednesday shooting. No charges have been filed, Forrest said, and there is no warrant for Gallemore-Jimenez’s arrest.
Cannon said it would make sense if Gallemore-Jimenez were running from and shooting at police if he were involved in a shooting that day.
After the Utah County shooting, police had closed the northbound on-ramps to keep traffic off the freeway, according to the release.
“I don’t know where he’s from,” Cannon said. “He’s got a Utah address, he’s got a Kansas address that we know of, but where he has most recently lived or where he spends most of his time, I don’t know.“ Cannon said.
Gallemore-Jimenez has a criminal record in Utah and six other states, Cannon said. He has a valid Kansas driver license, but a suspended Utah license. Police also found “evidence of multiple firearms” in the pickup he was driving, the release stated.
Cannon said Thursday morning he could not immediately elaborate on how many guns were in the truck.
“We know there was at least one gun” — a handgun — “because he shot at us,” Cannon said.
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