Erin Alberty
Scott D. PierceA police officer was “involved in a shooting” in Carbon County that left a Utah man dead. Whether the Wellington City officer shot and killed Bobby Ray Duckworth, 26, officials refused to say at a Wednesday morning news conference.
“At this time, I’d rather not discuss that,” said Carbon County Sheriff Jeff Wood, whose agency is leading the investigation. “Let us finish our investigation and we’ll get to the bottom of everything that happened.”
There is, he added, “body cam footage, and it’s pretty clear what happened.”
Asked when the footage will be released, Carbon County Attorney Jeremy Humes declined to say.
According to Wellington Police Chief Rory Bradley, the police officer involved in the shooting — whose name was not released — responded to a report of a suicidal man in a field at 900 E. Railroad Ave. about 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Shots were fired; Duckworth was killed; police released no other information about the incident.
Bradley is the only full-time police officer in Wellington, a city of about 1,600. The officer involved in the shooting works part-time for the city; he works full-time for another police agency, which the chief did not identify.
The officer has been placed on paid leave during the investigation, Bradley said. The Carbon County Sheriff’s Office, the Price City Police Department, the Emery County Sheriff’s Office and the Carbon County Attorney’s Office will conduct the investigation jointly.
The Tribune will report further details as they become available.
Erin is a reporter who has previously been an outdoor columnist and worked the crime beat. She was the lead reporter on The Tribune's Pulitzer-winning coverage of campus sexual assault. She has worked at newspapers in Michigan and Iowa and taught English for two years at teacher-training colleges in China.