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The Uintah County Attorney's Office and state investigators will review a fatal shooting over the weekend involving a police officer in the eastern Utah town of Roosevelt.
In a joint statement Monday, the Duchesne County Sheriff's Office, Roosevelt City Police Department and the Utah State Bureau of Investigaion confirmed that deputies and Roosevelt police officers were dispatched about 12:30 p.m. Sunday to the area of the Uintah Basin Medical Center, where a handgun-toting man was reported "acting erratically."
Officers spotted the man, identified as 36-year-old Kevin Vance Norton, but he fled in foot into a nearby wooded area.
After about an hour negotiations failed to bring about Norton's surrender, unspecified "less-than-lethal attempts to disarm Norton" also were unsuccessful and an unidentified Roosevelt officer shot Norton.
Norton was rushed to Uintah Basin Medical Center, but was pronounced dead just before 2 p.m. Sunday.
Citing the ongoing investigation, neither the sheriff's office nor Roosevelt police released further details — including whether Norton shot at, or pointed his handgun at officers; how many shots were fired at him by police; or how many gunshot wounds he sustained, and where they were on his body.
The officer involved has been placed on administrative lead, pending the outcome of the investigations.
Since its own deputies were involved in the incident, Duchesne County asked for neighboring Uintah County to review whether use of deadly force had been justified. A second, concurrent probe into the shooting will be conducted by the Utah State Bureau of Investigations.
Roosevelt police officers reportedly are equipped with body cameras, but Police Chief Rick Harrison on Monday declined to say whether the incident had been captured on video. He referred questions about that, and other inquiries about the case, to the State Bureau of Investigations — which declined to release details beyond the joint statement.
Norton, who had a long criminal history, was restricted from firearm possession. Court records show felonies dating back to 2001, beginning with a first-degree aggravated robbery conviction. In 2003, he added a third-degree felony retail theft count; in 2010, he was guilty of third-degree felony unemployment insurance fraud; and at the time of his death he was on probation for third-degree felony aggravated domestic assault.
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