This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A sheriff's deputy and a Kanarraville man were wounded Friday afternoon in a campground shootout.
The confrontation began about 1:47 p.m. when two Iron County sheriff's deputies and a Utah Highway Patrol trooper responded to reports of a suicidal man barricaded in a mobile home, sheriff's Sgt. Charles Triplett said. The man, who has not been identified, had a gun and met the officers outside his home, but retreated into his home, according to a sheriff's news release.
The deputies and the trooper positioned themselves around the entrance to the home and called a SWAT team. The man exited the house carrying the gun before the SWAT team arrived, the release states.
Triplett said an officer and the man both opened fire about 2:43 p.m., and a sheriff's deputy and the man were hit. They were both taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The deputy was released later Friday.
Gale Politica said the shootout happened at her property, the Red Ledge RV Park and Campground. She said she saw an officer get hit in the hip. She also said police repeatedly tried to talk the man down, even after he brandished his gun.
"When he started walking out, they kind of surrounded him," she added.
Politica described the man's gun as a long barrelled weapon, possibly a rifle or a shotgun. Police did not immediately release information about the weapons involved in the shooting.
When the bullets began flying, Politica took cover behind a thick cabinet to avoid being hit through a wall. Later, she looked outside and saw the man handcuffed and kneeling on the ground. Soon he toppled over, she recalled, and an officer lifted him out of the snow.
Politica said the man had been living in the campground trailer for about two years, Politica said, though she thought he had moved to Florida in October but in November the man returned and paid rent through December. He said he planned on staying about four months.
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