OGDEN, Utah, June 14, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — The Ogden City Police Department has revealed the name of a suspect fatally shot Tuesday by an OCPD officer after they say he fired on police.
The man was Alex Lopez, 23, of Washington Terrace. Lopez was on parole after serving time for four felony convictions, Chief Eric Young, Ogden City Police Department, said at a news conference at the police station.
Lopez, whose previous convictions barred him from legally possessing a firearm, was armed and in a stolen vehicle at the time of the incident, Young said.
“It’s very unfortunate that the mother and father lost their son,” the Chief said. “It’s not a good thing in any way.”
Young said nine of his officers are now on paid administrative leave following two shooting incidents, one on Tuesday, June 6, and eight days later, on Tuesday of this week. He talked about possibly needing to reassign officers from resource officer duty at schools, among other options. Administrative leave is standard protocol for involved officers during the investigation of officer-involved-critical incidents.
Just one officer fired, killing Lopez, in this week’s incident. Police were alerted to a possible armed assault outside a bar in the 100 block of 25th Street, Young said.
“The callers reported there was a fight where a man may be assaulting a woman in the parking lot, and they stated the suspect was in possession of a handgun,” Young said. “The suspect was reported to have left the area in a black Lincoln SUV. Officers responded quickly to the scene and they located what they believe to be the suspect vehicle in the area of 17th in Washington Boulevard.”
They initiated a traffic stop, and the car appeared to be pulling over, then sped forward and raced through a red light, Young said.
Additional police cars responded to the area, and located the suspect vehicle at about 12th Street and Liberty Avenue. After following it for a few blocks, two officers stopped the black Lincoln in the 700 block of 8th Street, Young said.
“Before the officers were able to exit their vehicle the suspect exited the driver’s door of the vehicle and advanced on the officers, withdrawing a handgun and firing at the officers in their vehicles. The officers exited their vehicles, and two of the vehicles were struck by the gunfire. The officer who was in front and initiated the stop withdrew his service pistol in return fire towards Lopez. Lopez was struck by the gunfire from the officer and was later located on the ground in front of his vehicle.”
Another person who exited the suspect vehicle and fled at the initial traffic stop has not been located, Young said.
The whole incident took place between just before 1:30 a.m. and 1:37 a.m., in “a short period of time,” Young said. At about 2:17 a.m., the female owner of the stolen car called it in as missing, and was interviewed by police, he said.
June 6 incident
Both this and the June 6 incident are being investigated by a Weber County Attorney’s Office task force, Young said. In the earlier incident, a suspect reported for a violation of a protective order fired on responding officers, injuring one, who has since been released from the hospital to recover at home.
Eight officers fired on suspect Brian D. Simonton, 37, causing his death at the scene, the Washington Park Apartments, at 170 N. Washington Blvd.
Young said he hopes to be cleared to release dashcam and body-worn camera video of both incidents soon, when cleared by investigators.
June 13 news conference
To see the full June 13 news conference, click the link below.
