CEDAR CITY, Utah, Oct. 1, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — A suspect who was shot by a police officer after allegedly firing a handgun at a family member and threatening the officer with the firearm, is now facing a charge of attempted murder in the Thursday morning incident.
Brian Peters, 40, was taken into custody by law enforcement and transported to the hospital for treatment of his injuries after Cedar City Police officers responded to a report of shots fired in the 4200 West block of 375 North at about 11:30 a.m. Thursday.
“Initial information reported was a male subject, later identified as Brian Peters, intentionally fired a handgun at a family member inside the home,” Cedar City Police Department stated in a news release Friday.
“Peters also called dispatch and stated SWAT would need to respond and there would be lots of gun fire,” the release says.
Officers from multiple agencies responded and were setting up a containment area “when Peters fired at least one shot at a uniformed officer who was conducting traffic control on SR-56 as part of this incident,” it says.
Homes in the immediate area were evacuated, a nearby elementary school was placed on lockdown during the incident, and traffic on state Route 56 was also stopped for a time.
Police made phone contact with Peters, and he allegedly said he would shoot officers if they entered through his front door.
“Peters then exited the front of the home aiming his firearm as he approached another uniformed officer,” the news release continues. “Commands were given by the officer to stop and drop the firearm. Peters disregarded these orders and continued to approach the officer with the firearm.”
That’s when the officer fired his service weapon at Peters, who “suffered injuries and was transported to Cedar City Hospital and then airlifted to St. George for specialized care” while remaining in custody.
No other injuries were reported.
On Friday, Peters was booked into the Iron County Jail on charges of attempted murder, a first-degree felony, and felony discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony.
The investigation, conducted by the Iron, Garfield and Beaver counties Critical Incident Task Force, is still underway.
Gephardt Daily will update this story as more information is made available.
