Ogden police fatally shot an 18-year-old who they say pointed a gun at an officer Tuesday afternoon after a car chase.
Police were looking for suspects in a series of robberies in Weber and Davis counties — including one where a 7-Eleven clerk was pistol-whipped — when they found a stolen car believed to be connected to the robbery, parked at an apartment complex in the 300 block of 7th Street, said Ogden’s deputy police Chief Eric Young.
Officers set up a “device” to deflate the car’s tire and watched over the apartment complex until one of the robbery suspects came outside and got into the car, Young said. The teen drove the car on the deflated tire, with officers in pursuit, to 12th Street and Depot Drive, where the car collided with two civilians’ cars and a police cruiser, Young said. It then came to a stop.
“The information at the scene was that the suspect pointed a gun at the officer,” Young said in a news conference Tuesday night. “The officer fired several shots, striking the suspect.”
The teen was taken to a hospital, where he died, Young said. Police did not release his name pending family notifications.
“This is an unfortunate loss of a young man,” Young said, adding: “We are proud of this officer and the brave actions he took to protect our community.”
Police were still looking for at least one other suspect in the robberies, which took place during the past two weeks, Young said.
It is the second fatal shooting by Ogden officers in less than a week, and the third in less than a month.
On Friday, a woman flagged down officers who were on duty downtown and reported that she had been kidnapped by a man she used to date. Richard Galvan, 37, had gone to her house, threatened her and forced her to drive him around Ogden, the woman told police — but he had gotten out of the car and walked away near 28th Street and Washington Boulevard, police said. Officers found Galvan at a city holiday light display. Police said Galvan shot at officers, who returned fire, killing him. City cameras captured the shootout.
Less than a month earlier, on Nov. 9, Ogden police shot and killed 33-year-old Christopher William Parrish. An officer confronted Parrish, who was driving away from a Walmart after customers reported he was acting “manic and threatening” and saying he wanted to fight people, police said. The officer asked Parrish to get out of his car, but Parrish sped away, crashed his car in the road’s shoulder and ran into a nearby yard, police said. Parrish picked up a “softball-sized” rock and charged two officers who had chased him, “rapidly and violently” attacking them, police said. The officers tried using Tasers, but when those didn’t subdue Parrish, they fired their guns at him, killing him, police said.
The officers in all three shootings are on paid leave until the Weber County attorney reviews the shootings to determine whether they were legally justified.
“Being involved in a shooting is the last thing a police officer wants to do,” Young said.
Police in Utah have fired on at least 29 people so far in 2018, hitting 24 and killing 18 — more than any other year in recent memory. Tribune records of shootings by police go back 15 years.
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