Police on scene of fatal officer-involved shooting outside Ogden’s Christmas Village

Ogden Police and fire department on scene of a shooting in the area of 25th Street and Washington Boulevard, just outside of the city's Christmas Village, Friday, Nov. 30, 2018. Photo: Gephardt Daily/Laura Withers

OGDEN, Utah, Nov. 30, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — Police investigators from multiple jurisdictions are on the scene of a fatal officer-involved shooting outside Ogden’s Christmas Village near 25th Street and Washington Boulevard.

According to Ogden Police Chief Randy Watt, the shooting took place at about 6:10 p.m. Friday in the aftermath of an aggravated kidnapping.

Watt said the incident began when Ogden police officers were flagged down by a woman who told them she had escaped a kidnapping that occurred earlier in the evening.

The woman gave the officers a description of the suspect.

Within minutes, officers responding to the kidnapping report came upon the suspect.

Watt said as police approached, the man pulled a pistol and opened fire on the officers.

Two officers returned fire, fatally wounding the suspect.

Neither policeman was injured, although a number of bullets struck a nearby patrol car.

The streets were growing crowded with Christmas partiers, including families with children, when the gunfire broke out, although Watt said there was a lull in traffic at the time of the incident and “almost no one was in the area at the time.”

“I would first like to congratulate the police officers who were placed in grave danger and removed an armed felon in the act of committing and aggravated felony from the streets,” Watts said. “We’re very proud of the officers and what they did, the actions that they took — unfortunate actions, but very necessary actions.”

According to Watts the kidnapping began outside of Ogden before the alleged kidnapper and his victim drove into downtown.

Exactly how the woman escaped has yet to be revealed.

Another press conference is scheduled for Saturday.

Gephardt Daily has a crew on the scene and will update the story as more information is made available.

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