This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Utah man who was shot and killed by police after threatening to blow up a hazardous waste incineration facility in Tooele County had a history of mental-health struggles, authorities said Monday.
The man was inside the fenced perimeter at Clean Harbors when he was shot Sunday after allegedly ignoring commands by a Tooele County sheriff's deputy and a Utah Highway Patrol trooper. He fell to the ground and crawled under his truck, where he died.
The officers were about 160 feet away when at least one of them shot the man, according to a news release by the Utah County Sheriff's Office, which is investigating the incident.
The man was not a Clean Harbors employee, and investigators do not know of any connection he had with the company or its employees. The man's identity has not been released, pending notification of relatives, and no details were given about his alleged mental-health problems.
The news release says two employees spoke to the man early Sunday outside the facility, which is near Aragonite, south of Interstate 80, and asked if he needed help. The man said no, then he followed other employees inside a short time later.
When employees told the man he had to leave, he initiated a physical confrontation and threatened to blow them up, the release says. The workers reported to dispatch that during the altercation, they saw the man was carrying a gun in a holster and had a knife, the release says.
Officers were dispatched to Clean Harbors about 6:30 a.m., and when they encountered the man, he was armed with a rifle and a handgun, according to the release. After he threatened the deputy and trooper with a firearm and refused to cooperate, the release says, he was shot.
A bomb squad found no explosives in the area. David Proud, a spokesman for the Massachusetts-based company, said no employees were in the immediate vicinity of the shooting.
"Our safety protocols were implemented immediately — the facility was put under lockdown and subsequently evacuated after police cleared the plant," Proud said in an email.
Neither of the two officers who responded was injured in the exchange, and both have been placed on administrative leave.
Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC