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Sunset • Police said they shot a drunken, gun-wielding resident early Monday after his alarm company called 911 because the man allegedly destroyed his telephone during an argument with his wife.
Sunset Police Chief Ken Eborn said the wounded 42-year-old man was conscious, talking and still combative when taken from the scene of the shooting. He later underwent surgery at Ogden Regional Medical Center. His condition was not immediately available, though he was expected to survive.
Eborn said an officer went to the home, at 1086 N. 250 West, about 1:20 a.m. after the man's alarm company automatically called 911.
When dispatchers tried to call back, all they got was static so they asked the officer to check on the occupants, Eborn said.
When the officer arrived, Eborn said the officer spotted the 42-year-old man inside his residence wielding a handgun. The officer ordered the man to drop it, but he instead fired a shot into a wall of his home, Eborn said.
The officer again ordered the man to drop his weapon, but this time he turned toward the officer. Eborn said his officer, who has been with the force a little less than a year, fired his gun three times through a glass storm door, hitting the man in the abdomen each time.
Public records indicate Juan Carlos Ramirez, 42, lives at the home. Police would not immediately confirm whether Ramirez was indeed the man who was shot. Ramirez does not have a criminal record beyond a few traffic citations, according to court records.
"It's been confirmed that alcohol was a factor in this," Eborn said. "The hospital made it sound like he was pretty intoxicated."
The suspect's wife was inside the home at the time of the shooting but was not injured.
Eborn said the couple's argument was verbal and they had not been physically fighting. The couple have children who were present at the time of the incident, but Eborn said they did not witness the shooting.
A neighbor, Joe Rowley, said he awoke to the sound of sirens at 1:37 a.m. and saw paramedics "bring someone out on a stretcher."
"It's crazy. I can't believe something like this would happen in our neighborhood," Rowley added.
Rowley said it was not the first time police had visited the house, estimating officers had been called to the residence several times in the past seven years. Eborn said the calls were all minor in nature. A recent call, for instance, involved a dispute between the man and his trash collection company, he said.
Rowley said there were frequent parties at the house and loud arguments between the man and his wife weren't uncommon.
"You could hear them over there. They argued a lot," Rowley said. "He wasn't very friendly, but I never thought he'd be like that."
Eborn, who said he believed this was the first officer-involved shooting in Sunset during the 26 years he has been on the force, said the officer had been placed on paid leave pending completion of a shooting review.