UPDATE: Domestic violence suspect found dead after gunfight with SWAT in South Ogden
Law enforcement personnel gather at the site of a SWAT standoff in South Ogden on Wednesday, June 30, 2021.
Law enforcement personnel gather at the site of a SWAT standoff in South Ogden on Wednesday, June 30, 2021, as a police drone takes off over the command post.
Law enforcement personnel gather at the site of a SWAT standoff in South Ogden on Wednesday, June 30, 2021.
Law enforcement personnel gather at the site of a SWAT standoff in South Ogden on Wednesday, June 30, 2021.
SOUTH OGDEN — SWAT officers traded gunfire with a domestic violence suspect over a six-hour period, and police found him dead inside a home just before noon Wednesday.
Weber County Attorney Christopher Allred said evidence indicated the man died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but it won’t be conclusive until an autopsy is performed.
“Whether he was hit by any police gunfire, we don’t know,” Allred said.
He said a large volume of shots were fired by the man during the standoff. The man fired from inside his home, using various weapons, he said, adding he did not know how many shots police fired.
“It’s remarkable no one else was injured with the guy firing so many shots in a residential neighborhood,” Allred said. “We are breathing a sigh of relief that no one else was injured in a really dangerous situation.”
South Ogden police investigating a reported aggravated assault went to the home in the 4500 block of Country View Drive at about 7 p.m. Tuesday, said Sgt. David Labbe.
“The Ogden Metro SWAT Team took over the incident because he was armed with firearms,” Labbe said.
SWAT officers negotiated with the man, in his 50s, for several hours, “and shortly after midnight he opened fire on the officers and they returned fire,” Labbe said.
Over the next six hours, the man continued to fire at police, who returned fire, Labbe said.
SWAT officers used drones and other devices to determine the man’s condition over the next several hours, Labbe said. At about 3:15 p.m., Labbe said the man was found dead just before noon and that the crime scene and investigation were turned over to the Weber County Attorney’s Office’s critical incident investigation team.
No one else was home during the standoff, and Labbe said he was not aware of any injuries to officers or other first responders.
The suspect’s name was not released.
Allred said he did not know much about the gunman and was not yet informed about the details of the SWAT negotiations or how the confrontation played out.
Police advised nearby residents to shelter in place during the standoff, but South Ogden police lifted that order in the early afternoon.
Labbe said South Ogden officers were called to a local hospital to meet with victims of a domestic assault, and that led them to the suspect.
Police obtained a search warrant and then SWAT was deployed.
In May 2020, an Ogden police officer, Nate Lyday, was killed while responding to a domestic violence incident in Ogden City.