GARDEN CITY, Utah, Sept. 26, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — The victims in a shooting in Garden City, near Bear Lake Sunday afternoon returned fire at the suspect, officials said Tuesday.
The suspect, whose name has not been released, was found dead in a vehicle at Sweetwater Park, the camper trailer park where the shooting took place.
The Rich County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release the incident happened at approximately 1:50 p.m.
“The Sheriff’s Office received a call that there was a suicidal man with a gun in the Garden City area,” the news release said “The next call we received was that he was shooting into houses. We also received word that two people had been shot.”
“When officers arrived they found one deceased male inside a vehicle that had crashed into the side of a trailer home,” a news release from the Utah Department of Public Safety said Tuesday. “Inside the home two elderly gunshot victims were found. During the attack, gun fire was exchanged and it is believed that is when the suspect was shot and killed. A preliminary investigation shows the elderly couple shot back at the suspect as a manner of self-defense.”
Why the suspect was targeting the elderly couple is still under investigation. The two victims, a 62-year-old man and a 72-year-old woman, who have not been identified, do not have life threatening injuries and are expected to survive.
Seven agents with the Department of Public Safety’s State Bureau of Investigation, three Utah Highway Patrol Troopers and forensic scientist with the state crime lab were called out to the scene to assist in a joint investigation with Rich County.
