Salt Lake police respond in force after multiple shots fired; 1 man taken into custody

A report of multiple shots fired late Monday night, Aug. 6, 2018, resulted in a massive police effort to locate the shooter or shooters in a residential neighborhood on Redwood Road. No victims were found, but a man who was exhibiting signs of mental illness was taken into protective custody. Photo: Gephardt Daily

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Aug. 7, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — A report of multiple shots fired late Monday night resulted in a massive police effort to locate the shooter or shooters in a residential neighborhood on Redwood Road.

The incident started at about 10 p.m., when an officer who was covering a hit-and-run accident at a 7-Eleven came over the police radio and reported, “I just heard shots fired,” Salt Lake City Police Lt. Gary Trost said.

Reports were that a significant number of rounds — possibly as many as a dozen — had been fired.

Not knowing what to expect, officers converged on the area near 500 South and Redwood Road, and set up a containment area covering two blocks in every direction.

As they gradually closed in on the suspect home, clearing the area in increments, officers also had to deal with rough terrain and stands of trees on the property, which at times made it difficult to discern who was where. Radio communication was vital in keeping everyone apprised of their locations.

“We made contact with a resident of this home,” Trost said. “We took him into protective custody so we could figure out what’s going on.

“I can tell you that the gentleman inside this house is having some sort of mental illness right now. Whether he’s the one that shot those rounds that were heard, we’re not quite sure yet. We’re still going to investigate that,” Trost told Gephardt Daily.

“The gentleman that we brought out of the house, he was making some pretty unusual statements that made us go, ‘OK, hold it.'”

He said the man would be transported to a facility for a mental evaluation.

Officials were still in the process of investigating the incident, but Trost said the entire area has been cleared and there are no victims.

“We have no one hurt,” he said. “We just have shots fired, where we’re still trying to identify where the shots fired occurred. So we’re going to look for casings, we’re going to look for bullet holes.”

Trost said officers had checked nearby homes and vehicles as they cleared the area, and one of the cars had a bullet hole in it. Police also found a casing on the porch. However, no weapon has been found yet, and police don’t know if the bullet hole in the car is old or new.

Referring to the man who was taken into protective custody, Trost said, “At this point, we’re supposing he was involved because this is where everybody was pointing to.”

He later added, “If he’s the guy, we need to get him help right away or someone’s gonna get hurt.”

Salt Lake City Police had assistance from Utah Highway Patrol, which brought in air support to aid in the search for any suspects.

“It was a lot of manpower,” Lt. Trost said of the almost two-hour search-and-clear, “and it almost seems like we were chasing nothing. But no one was hurt, there were no victims, so that’s a good thing.”

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