Update: 1 shot dead during pawn shop robbery in Bountiful; police release more details

Police are seeking a suspect who fled after a fatal shooting at a Bountiful pawn shop. Photos: Bountiful Police Department; Gephardt Daily/Steve Milner

BOUNTIFUL, May 4, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — One person has been shot dead during an attempted robbery at a pawn shop in Bountiful, police say.

On Friday morning officers responded to the scene of Bountiful Pawn and Sales at 135 S. 500 West, after it was reported that two male suspects had entered the store with the intention of robbing the business at gunpoint.

Lt. Dave Edwards, Bountiful Police Department, in a late afternoon news conference updated reporters on some of the details of the incident.

“The entire incident was captured on video,” Edwards said. “Everything that occurred inside the store is recorded on video.”

Edwards said one of the suspects went into the store and immediately put a gun into the clerk’s face and ordered him to the ground.

The second suspect then entered the store and started moving along the counters.

At that point the one holding the gun looked away briefly as he tried to close the door behind him to prevent anyone else from coming in.

The clerk, seeing his chance, retreated to a storage room and retrieved a weapon he was carrying. The clerk then hid in a corner of the room.

The suspect with the gun pursued the clerk, and when he entered the storage room, he pointed his gun at the clerk, and the clerk fired at him.

Edwards said a physical altercation ensued between the two, but the clerk was able to overcome the injured man and called 911.

The second suspect had fled the store and still hasn’t been located.

Edwards said police have identified the deceased suspect — a 40-year-old man from Colorado — but they are not releasing his name pending notification of family members.

He added that a detective in Bethany, Oklahoma, had heard that someone he was looking for may have traveled to Utah, and when he saw the information about the Bountiful robbery, he recognized the details.

Edwards said Bountiful police have confirmed that the deceased suspect had warrants for robberies in Bethany and Oklahoma City, as well as a couple of places in Texas.

Photo Bountiful Police Department

A vehicle suspected to be connected with the crime is a white 2005 Saturn Vue, with a possible Colorado plate number BMT182.

Police ask anyone who sees the vehicle to call 911.

Gephardt Daily will provide more information as it becomes available.

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