LAYTON — Police traded gunfire with and wounded a fleeing suspect Wednesday morning, leading to a closure of southbound Interstate 15 that blocked freeway traffic for several hours, the Layton Police Department said.

The determined suspect’s car had tires flattened and the vehicle was knocked aside twice on the freeway by pursuing police cruisers. The chase ended after the man was shot. No police or others were injured, Police Lt. Travis Lyman said.

“You can imagine there was a lot of traffic at the time,” Lyman said. As officers were trying to slow down and block off traffic as they were following the suspect, he started firing, he added.

“That certainly escalated it at that point,” Lyman said. “It was in a really dangerous place and we wanted to get him stopped as soon as possible.”

The incident began at about 6:30 a.m. when a resident called police saying an unfamiliar car was in her driveway and the driver seemed to be asleep. A responding police officer saw a gun in the driver’s pocket and he called for backup officers, Lyman said.

When the driver noticed police, he drove off, crashing into a cruiser and going west on State Road 193. Officers threw down tire-popping spikes, partially disabling the car, which then got on I-15 southbound during morning rush-hour traffic. As police pursued, the man fired at officers, but one of the officers got close enough to knock the suspect’s car to a stop. The man fired again and officers returned fire, the man driving away again. A second disabling crash maneuver stopped the car a short distance farther and the man surrendered, Lyman said. At that point, officers saw that the man was wounded in the hip area.

The suspect, a 28-year-old whose name was not released, was taken to a hospital in Ogden with what Lyman said were non-life-threatening injuries. Lyman said that after the suspect is released, he will be booked into the Davis County Jail.

Lyman said investigators found the gun on I-15, probably thrown out by the suspect. He said investigators were trying to find out where all the shots went.

The Utah Highway Patrol closed off traffic behind the chase and the freeway was blocked between mile posts 330 and 332 while police arrested the man and collected evidence. Lyman said the freeway remained partially closed after noon.

Lyman said the Layton department will conduct an internal investigation of the shooting. Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings said the county’s police critical incident protocol has been invoked and his office will investigate the shooting as well.

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