SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, July 20, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Salt Lake City police responding to an apartment building on a call of a suicidal person late Tuesday morning found themselves being fired upon, an SLCPD spokesman told reporters at the scene.
“At 11:30 this morning our officers received the call on the suicidal person in the area of 1660 West 900 North, behind me,” Sgt. Keith Horrocks said.
“Our officers responded and made contact with that person. At some point in that contact that person fired off several rounds at our officers. They returned fire, and also had to take hard cover in the area to protect themselves. That has turned into a barricaded situation.”
Because officers fired their guns, the incident will be investigated by an outside team of law enforcement investigators, in keeping with Officer-Involved Critical Incident Protocol.
“I want to point out that we do have social workers and negotiators on scene to try to speak with a suspect, and to bring about a peaceful surrender in this case,” Horrocks said. “We also have our SWAT team on scene, and I point that out because I wanted to point out that they have several tools at their disposal, that are less lethal that can also help in this situation.”
Horrocks said the request for drivers to stay clear of the active scene remains in place, and “we asked the public to avoid the area between 700 North and 1000 North on Redwood Road while we work the scene.”
Sgt. Keith Horrocks is providing the community an update about the police activity occurring on Redwood Road between 700 N. and 1000 N. #SLC pic.twitter.com/AG7nuMTg8s
— SLC Police Dept. (@slcpd) July 20, 2021
