Jordan Miller
Paighten HarkinsIntermountain Medical Center diverted ambulances and canceled appointments Monday afternoon as police effectively locked down the hospital in a “precautionary measure.”
“This is a precautionary measure by law enforcement to make sure everything is safe and protected,” Intermountain spokesperson Jess Gomez said Monday afternoon. “Everybody on campus … is absolutely safe. Caregivers and patients are safe. There have been absolutely no threats to anyone here on campus.”
He could not say if the heavy police presence at the Murray hospital was connected to the shooting that killed one and critically injured two other people in Kearns on Monday.
IMC redirected incoming emergency patients as police stationed outside the hospital. Any medical helicopters that might have landed in Murray would also be diverted, Gomez said.
“We collectively work very closely with all the hospitals in the valley. So this is pretty routine in terms of going on divert,” he said.
Gomez said Intermountain had also been in contact with patients, telling them not to come in for appointments.
The measures would likely be in effect through Monday evening, Gomez said.
On Monday morning, one man was killed and two others were critically injured in a shooting outside a church in Kearns, Unified Police Department Assistant Chief Justin Hoyal said in a news conference.
The three men were transported to a nearby hospital, Hoyal said. One died from his injuries and two others were being treated.
Jordan is a breaking news reporter at The Tribune. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma and has written for the Houston Chronicle along with the Enid News & Eagle. When she's not reporting, she loves watching football, reading books and painting.
Paighten is an Enterprise reporter at The Salt Lake Tribune. She covers a variety of topics, including business, health, growth and the legal justice system — sometimes all at once. She is from southern Oklahoma, and lived and worked in the state, most recently at the Tulsa World, before starting at The Tribune in October 2017.