Man shot, arrested following ‘extremely dangerous’ shootout on I-15 in Utah

LAYTON, Utah (KSL.com) — A man who police say fired at officers while driving on I-15 during the busy morning commute Wednesday was shot by police and arrested.

Despite multiple shots being exchanged, the man’s injuries are not considered to be life-threatening, and no one else was hurt.

“It was an extremely dangerous situation,” said Layton Police Lt. Travis Lyman.

The tense situation began just before 6:30 a.m. when a Layton resident woke up to find a car running in his driveway and a man who appeared to be asleep in the driver’s seat, Lyman said. The resident did not know who the man was, nor did he recognize the vehicle.

A police officer responded to the residence and when he approached the car, he spotted a gun sticking out of the man’s pocket, Lyman said. Because of that, additional officers were called to the scene before attempting to wake the man up. Once the officers were in place and the man realized that there were multiple police officers outside his car, he attempted to drive off and rammed at least one patrol car in the process, according to Lyman.

The man drove west on state Route 193 as an officer in an unmarked patrol car followed from a distance, Lyman said. Because of the busy morning traffic, police tried to avoid getting into a chase, he said. But the man soon realized he was being followed and attempted to get away.

Near University Park Boulevard, officers successfully deployed spikes that shredded at least one of the man’s tires, Lyman said. But the man kept driving and got onto the I-15 freeway heading south.

As the man was fleeing, Layton police and the Utah Highway Patrol attempted to slow down traffic behind the pursuit to create distance between the driver and other vehicles. While officers were following the man, he began shooting at them as he continued to drive, Lyman said. A Layton officer was eventually able to get close enough to the fleeing vehicle to perform a PIT maneuver, temporarily disabling the vehicle.

But after doing that, Lyman said the man fired at police again and two Layton officers returned fire. The man then continued driving south on I-15, he said. A short distance later, police performed a second PIT maneuver and again stopped the fleeing car. This time, Lyman said the man surrendered without further incident. Police discovered that he had been shot in the hip.

The 28-year-old man, whose name has not yet been released, was taken to a hospital in Ogden for treatment. After he is released, Lyman said he will be booked into the Davis County Jail.

The shooting will be investigated both internally and by an officer-involved critical incident protocol team. Lyman said where all of the bullets ended up during the exchange of gunfire will be part of the investigation. But as of Wednesday morning, there were no reports that any other people or cars had been struck.

The freeway was closed for several hours in Davis County as police investigated the incident, By 10 a.m., two lanes had been reopened.