Ogden police identify man shot, killed after threatening officers with ‘baseball-sized rock’

Ogden police have identified CHristopher William Parrish (inset) as the man killed in the officer-invovled shooting on Friday, Nov. 9, 2018. Photos: Ogden Police Department; Gephardt Daily

OGDEN, Utah, Nov. 10, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — Ogden police have identified a man who was shot and killed Friday night by local officers.

The man was 33-year-old Christopher William Parrish, a man convicted for felonies in Arizona and Oregon, and apparently just passing through Ogden when he had a manic episode in the Walmart at 1959 Wall Ave., and was brought to the attention of officers who were there on another matter.

Ogden Police Chief Randy Watt talked about the officer-involved shooting to reporters gathered at the police station on Saturday afternoon. Watt said Parrish was at the Walmart, acting violent and trying to get people to fight with him, when someone notified patrolmen who were at the store.

“He was manic and threatening,” Watt said of the incident, which began at about 6:45 p.m.

The officers saw Parrish get into a car and begin to leave the parking lot to drive onto 20th Street. They initiated a traffic stop, and Parrish got out of the car and began to run south in the woodsy area between 20th South and 21st South, both of which are large, one-way streets.

Officers were chasing Parrish on foot when he stopped and picked up a “baseball-sized rock,” Watt said, and began actively threatening the officers with it.

Watt said attempts to stop Parrish with a Taser failed, as did orders to stop, so both officers fired their service revolvers, both hitting Parrish. Attempts to save his life failed, and Parrish was pronounced dead at the scene.

The officers were not injured, Watt said.

Parrish’s next of kin, his mother, was contacted and informed of the death on Saturday afternoon, Watt said. He also shared some of what officials had learned about Parrish.

His last known addresses were in Phoenix and in Surprise, Ariz. He has no known connection to the Ogden area, but was using a car registered in Ogden, with the owner’s permission.

There’s a burglary warrant out for him in Arizona. He is listed as a missing person out of Montana.

His felony convictions in Portland and Arizona included burglary and assault with a deadly weapon.

Parrish had prison tattoos that identified him as being affiliated with two Aryan nation gangs, Watt said.

An autopsy was conducted on Parrish on Saturday afternoon. Toxicology results, which could indicate if he was drunk or high at the time of the incident, should be available in about six weeks.

In keeping with Officer-Involved Critical Incident protocol, an agency other than the one involved — which in this case is the Ogden City Police Department — will investigate the case. The Weber County Attorney’s Office will conduct the independent investigation.

This was the second officer-involved critical incident in Ogden in less than 36 hours. To read about shots fired during an arrest at a local eatery, click here.

3 COMMENTS

  1. THIS IS BULL**** !!! Since when are two armed police officers unable to take down a man without using lethal force? It’s ridiculous to think they had no other options. How about shooting the rock out of his hand, or maybe shoot him in the knee? Get behind a tree, let him throw his damn rock then tackle him. For hells sake they killed him? There are any number of things they could have done other than end his life. Heaven forbid they backed off a little and radioed for a doctor or mental health professional to come and assist. You can’t tell me they had to kill him. You just cant.

  2. I agree with you, except the part about shooting the rock out of his hand…that’s not a reasonable expectation, neither is shooting him in the knees. But i do absolutely agree that their firearms shouldn’t have been fired in the first place. How asinine for them to suggest that their ONLY OPTION was to take his life. It seems like that is the first and only resort some police officers utilize. Which suggests to me that they are either EXTREMELY under trained and ill-prepared for the job, or have characteristic flaws that should’ve been addressed BEFORE stepping out into the field. This needs to be fixed. Kissing the blue line’s a$$ and worshipping them like Gods, or condemning them all as racist monsters, doesn’t seem to be doing the trick. The media doesn’t help either by trying to paint every deceased victim as some sort of less than human criminal in order to sway everyone’s judgement of the situation… i wish i had the answers…

  3. Totally agree think the prick have alot more to answer for the 2 armed trained police one clearly mentally instable man, i dont for a second believe there story,i certainly don’t believe the tried taser n faild i smell bullshit

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