WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, April 8, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — A West Valley City school was placed on “shelter in place” protocol Thursday morning after shots were fired in the area.
West Valley City Police Lt. Jeff Conger told Gephardt Daily that at approximately 9:41 a.m., officials received a call of a possible robbery with shots fired in the area of 5300 W. 2700 South.
“As officers responded in the area we encountered two individuals that appeared to be victims of a possible altercation with other tenants in the apartment complex,” Conger said. “We are still in the middle of investigating that to see exactly what happened. Apparently there was some sort of argument that happened last night that led into this morning, where they encountered each other and shots were fired at each other.”
No one was struck and no one was injured, Conger said.
“Some of the involved parties left before our arrival, we are just in the process of writing some search warrants and interviewing people and canvasing the area to see what we can find out,” Conger said.
A precautionary “shelter in place” protocol was enacted at Neil Armstrong Academy at 5194 Highbury Pkwy.
“Once we secured the area and realized there was no other danger we released the school back to normal procedures,” Conger said.
He added that the fire department was in the area on a separate call; they thought they were being shot at by at least one of the suspects, but it appears fire personnel were just driving by as the two parties were shooting towards each other.
“There was no damage to fire vehicles or injuries to fire personnel,” Conger said.
The road where the incident occurred was closed for a time due to evidence being found in the street; it has now reopened.
Conger said at this time there is no evidence this was a gang-related incident.
The first notification of the now-ended shelter in place call went on social media about 10 a.m. “Patron Alert — West Valley Police and Granite Police have placed Armstrong Academy on a precautionary ‘shelter in place’ protocol due to police activity in the neighborhood area,” the Granite School District tweet said. “There is no direct threat to students and the protocol is strictly precautionary to ensure student safety.”
Gephardt Daily will have more on this developing story as information is made available.
