LAYTON, Utah, Sept. 7, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — The Davis County Critical Incident Team is investigating the officer involved shooting of an armed man in Layton early Wednesday morning.
Lt. Travis Lyman, Layton City Police Department, says officers were finishing up an unrelated domestic violence response at the Layton Meadows Apartments, at 540 W. 1425 North, when “a guy came out on his third story balcony with a rifle in his hand and started yelling at our officers.”
It was about 4:30 a.m., “and we spent the better part of the next hour trying to de-escalate him and trying to get him to put the rifle down.”
Officers reported seeing the laser from a gunsight appear in the apartment’s courtyard and surrounding units.
“At that time of morning, every one of those apartments likely had people in them,” Lyman said.
The gunman — later identified by police as 31-year-old Nathan Barker — reportedly threatened police. Lyman said the Critical Incident Team will be investigating what led to the decision to shoot the armed man.
The man did fire once, Lyman said, but it was not yet known if he fired into the sky or through an apartment. No injuries to police officers or other residents were reported.
Barker was treated at the scene for his injuries before being transported to the Holy Cross Hospital-Davis, then airlifted to a Salt Lake Valley hospital.
Lyman said the man was in serious but stable condition.
Lyman said officers actually spoke to the man earlier in the shift at another apartment complex.
“We had an encounter earlier with this same guy, which was a friendly encounter. He went out of his way to talk to our officers and that was just a really brief, friendly encounter. We didn’t think anything more of it. So we’re really not sure what prompted this later in the shift.”
Police believe Barker may have been visiting someone at the first complex, and lives in the third-floor apartment at Layton Meadows.
Gephardt Daily will have more information on this story as it develops.
