OGDEN — The Ogden Police Department has released additional details about Tuesday’s fatal encounter with a member of the public, the second such occurrence in a week’s time.

During a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Chief Eric Young identified Alex Chase Lopez, 23, of Washington Terrace, as the suspect who was killed in a shootout with police early Tuesday morning.

Young also detailed the events that led up to the incident.

“There was a call of a disturbance from two callers,” he said “It was at a bar in the 100 block of 25th Street. The callers reported there was a fight or a man maybe assaulting a woman in the parking lot and they stated the suspect was in possession of a handgun.”

The suspect — now identified as Lopez — then reportedly left the site in a black Lincoln SUV.

“Officers responded quickly to the scene and they located what was believed to be the suspect vehicle in the area of 17th (Street) and Washington Boulevard,” Young said. “They began trying to initiate a traffic stop on that suspect vehicle. It began to pull over and as officers were about to exit and approach the vehicle, it rapidly left the area going through a red light.”

According to Young, officers followed the vehicle, locating it again at 12th Street and Liberty Avenue, and followed it from there.

“Two officers stopped the vehicle in the 700 block of Eighth 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 gunfire. The officer who was in front and initiated the stop withdrew his service pistol and returned fire towards Lopez. Lopez was struck by the gunfire from the officer and was later located on the ground in front of his vehicle.”

He added that a second person emerged from the vehicle’s passenger door and fled the scene. That person has not been identified or located at this time, Young said.

The entire incident happened in a span of less than 10 minutes, according to Young, with the initial call coming in around 1:30 a.m. and the exchange of gunfire occurring around 1:37 a.m. Around 2:17 a.m., the owner of the SUV driven by Lopez during the incident called to report it stolen.

Per department policy, Young said, body-worn cameras are to be activated during an incident, and officers involved in the use of deadly force are placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation by the Weber County Attorney’s Officer Critical Incident Investigation team.

“There is both dash cam video and body-worn camera video from this incident,” he said. “The body-worn camera footage, dash cam footage and all other evidence has been turned over to Weber County investigators. We will, in consultation with the Weber County Attorney and their investigative team, expedite the release of the body-worn camera footage.”

Young said that only one officer fired their weapon during the incident and they are now on paid leave.

During the press conference, Young also discussed Lopez’s criminal history.

“The suspect’s father and mother have both been notified of their son’s death,” Young said. “The suspect, Mr. Lopez, had twice been convicted on four separate counts of felony discharge of a firearm in 2019. Two of those were second-degree felonies with prison terms of one to 15 years, two of those were third-degree felonies with prison terms of zero to five years. He was paroled before the end of 2020 and re-arrested again in 2021 for violating his parole. He was again paroled before the end of 2021 and he was again on parole at the time of this incident.”

According to a handout given to members of the press prior to Young’s remarks, Lopez was also convicted of two counts of criminal trespass in 2019.

On June 6, 37-year-old Brian Dee Simonton was killed, and an officer was shot and wounded, when police responded to a reported violation of a protective order at the Washington Park Apartments. With two shootings tied to violent offenders occurring in Ogden in a short period of time, Young said he sees it as part of a concerning trend.

“I’m concerned about the number of criminals convicted in violent felonies being released from prison and supervised in our community,” he said. “The efforts of the 2015 Justice Reinvestment Initiative Act to reduce incarcerated persons puts police officers, deputies, agents and all law enforcement in danger far too often. This isn’t a new story; it’s one we’ve heard many times regarding the injury and death of officers and civilians repeatedly. I fear, as Utahans, we’re becoming numb to the problem and its repetitive nature.”

The result, he said, is a situation that has been wearing on officers.

“I’ve been a police officer in Ogden for more than 30 years, and I can absolutely tell you that the level of threat to officers from physical attacks and assaults — including those with weapons — is dramatically higher than it was 15-20 years ago,” he said. “Officers are growing weary of arresting violent armed suspects only to see them committing violent acts, in many cases, less than a few months in the community.”

Young noted that, combined with last week’s shooting, there are now a total of nine Ogden City police officers on paid administrative leave, one of which is continuing to recover after sustaining serious injuries.

“We are utilizing officers from speciality assignments to include school resource officers and overtime shifts to back those staffing needs,” he said. “The Ogden Police department has a policy on minimum manning and staffing for patrol shifts. Regardless of these types of events or any others, patrol squads are always staffed to ensure adequate police service for the city of Ogden.”

According to Young, these kind of incidents take a significant toll on the department.

“It’s a difficult, stressful career,” he said. “The officers in our department are already under quite a bit of stress knowing eight of them were involved in a shooting and one of them was seriously injured and is still dealing with a very serious injury from that previous shooting. And the efforts — which were extensive efforts — taken by Deputy Chief (Jake) Sube and others to see that officer is being cared for. Now you (compound) that with another shooting, so I think maybe the strain, anxiety, fear and stress is as real as anything else.”

When asked, Young noted that, overall, crime is down in the city.

“Violent crime is steady. … Part I crime, which is considered the most serious crimes, reduced over 51% between 2006-2022 in Ogden. So we’ve seen a drastic reduction in crime overall,” he said. “Which leads to my concern that we’re seeing this larger proportion of criminals who are trying to be rehabilitated in our community rather than a place where our community is safe.”

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