Cedar City police opened fire at a 40-year-old man Thursday after police said he “presented a threat” to officers.
Officers responded around 11:30 a.m. to a report of a man shooting toward people inside a house near 300 North and 4200 West in Cedar City. After officers arrived, the man “fired additional shots,” according to a news release from the Iron/Garfield/Beaver Counties Critical Incident Task Force.
When the man presented an apparent threat to police, officers opened fired at him, according to the release. The release did not detail what that threat was, how many shots were fired or how many officers fired their weapons.
The man was injured in the shooting. He was taken into custody and treated at a hospital, the release stated. No officers or others were hurt. The task force is investigating the shooting.
More details on the initial call to the Cedar City home were not immediately released.
The situation caused homes in the immediate area to be evacuated, a nearby elementary school to be placed on lockdown and traffic to be stopped on state Route 56, the release stated.
Thursday’s police shooting in Cedar City marked the 23rd police shooting in Utah this year. The state is on pace to hit last year’s record-tying number, 30, again.
It also marked the second Cedar City police shooting this year. On Valentine’s Day, four officers opened fire on Larry Joseph Lee Tessier, 36, “almost simultaneously,” after he drove his car at them and rammed into a police vehicle, according to charging documents. Tessier survived the shooting and has since been charged with multiple felony counts of criminal mischief and aggravated assault, as well as a single count of failure to stop for a police officer.
The lead prosecutor who reviewed the officers’ conduct ruled that the February shooting was justified.
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