Utah County Sheriff’s Office released dash cam footage on Wednesday that shows an intense six seconds of gunfire between a driver and deputies on Interstate 15 on Dec. 20.
Arturo Ray Gallemore-Jimenez, 37, is accused of leading Utah County police on a nine-mile chase that ended with him being wounded and crashing at the University Parkway exit in Orem.
During the shootout, two bullets also hit a Provo man and a passing car. Utah County Sheriff Jim Tracy confirmed Wednesday that those shots were fired by law enforcement officers.
One bullet shattered the rear window of a pickup truck, but missed the four children and parents inside, Tracy said. Another bullet hit the shoulder of a man who had stopped on the side of the freeway to put gas in his tank.
The video begins with Utah County deputies pulling over a white pickup truck near Springville. The driver, Gallemore-Jimenez, has his hands out of the window and deputies are shouting instructions at him. The video then shows Gallemore-Jimenez pull a hand back into the truck.
“Careful,” a deputy is heard saying in the video, just before Gallemore-Jimenez shoots three times. The five deputies returned fire, shooting a total of about 50 rounds. Two of those bullets hit the man on the side of the freeway and the passing car.
Some of the bullets hit Gallemore-Jimenez’s tires, slowing the truck down.
Police officers set up a blockade to stop northbound traffic near the Center Street exit in Provo, and prevent any other cars from getting hit during the chase.
Law enforcement followed Gallemore-Jimenez’s truck to the University Parkway exit in Orem, where a member of the SWAT team was waiting, standing beside his squad car with a tactical gun.
The SWAT officer shoots a rapid succession of shots, and then Gallemore-Jimenez’s truck comes into view, swerving erratically back and forth on the off-ramp before crashing into a fence and stopping.
Though he was wearing a bullet-proof vest, two of the bullets injured Gallemore-Jimenez, according to charges. One bullet hit him in the arm, and the other scraped across the back of his neck, Tracy said. Gallemore-Jimenez was taken to Utah Valley Hospital and released into police custody two days later.
Overall, Tracy said he was pleased with his deputies’ decisions, including their use of force. But, he said, they made an error.
“They exposed themselves too much in that first shooting location,“ he said. “The deputy that you saw in front of his own car was more exposed than he should have been. And he knows that.”
Gallemore-Jimenez has been charged in Provo’s 4th District Court with three counts of attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, for shooting at officers.
He was also charged with failure to stop at the command of police, and with the use of a firearm by a restricted person, both third-degree felonies; theft, a second-degree felony; two counts of possession of a controlled substance, a class A misdemeanor; and driving on a revoked license, a class C misdemeanor.
The night before the chase started, Gallemore-Jimenez allegedly shot and wounded a man in the back in Colorado because the man took too long to return a borrowed pickup truck, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed Friday in Arapahoe County District Court.
The victim told police he had met Gallemore-Jimenez near an Aurora hotel the evening, the affidavit states. After they smoked either marijuana or methamphetamine together, Gallemore-Jimenez let the victim borrow his pickup truck to run errands while he took a shower, the affidavit states.
But after the victim had been gone about 90 minutes, Gallemore-Jimenez got upset that he had been gone longer than expected, the affidavit states. The victim stopped at a gas station a half-block from the hotel. When he returned to the truck, Gallemore-Jimenez was sitting in the driver seat, the affidavit states.
Gallemore-Jimenez drove them to an apartment complex parking lot and allegedly took the victim’s cigarettes and pocket change, the affidavit states. The victim stepped out of the vehicle and started to run when he was shot in the back near the shoulder blade, according to the affidavit. The victim is expected to live, according to Aurora Officer Ken Forest.
After the alleged shooting, Gallemore-Jimenez drove to Utah, where on Dec. 20, he allegedly shot out the window of the truck at a Nephi gas station because he had locked his keys inside.
Gallemore-Jimenez then used methamphetamine before encountering police on I-15 in Utah County, according to charges filed in Utah last week.
After the chase ended, police searched Gallemore-Jimenez’s truck and found a shotgun, a revolver, methamphetamine and marijuana. Police also found a throwing knife in Gallemore-Jimenez’s wallet and knives on his ankle, according to court documents. He also had two driver licenses with him — one a suspended Utah license and one a current Kansas license.
In an interview with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office after his arrest, Gallemore-Jimenez said he had made a mental list of 13 people he intended to kill. He was prepared to die, he said, and had planned to “find a cove and escape using his shotgun and body armor,” charging documents state.
Gallemore-Jimenez also said he was prepared to shoot officers to avoid going to jail and that he believed “God would have put that police officer in [his] path to kill him,” according to charges.
Gallemore-Jimenez is being held at the Utah County jail in lieu of $1 million cash-only bail.
His criminal record also includes convictions in Kansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Missouri, and arrests in South Dakota and Colorado, according to court documents.
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