Police don’t know why a Utah man fled, shot at them and took his own life

The man who fled from police, shot at an officer, hid in a neighborhood and then killed himself did not have a criminal record and police said Friday it isn’t clear what motivated the series of incidents that ended in a lost life.

Aaron Troy Michael Rehn, 29, shot himself after an hours-long ordeal where he eluded police by hiding in a family’s basement window well.

“These cases take time to put all the facts together toward concluding exactly what happened and why,” Taylorsville Police Department Chief Brady Cottam said. “Sometimes we never find out the whys.”

A Taylorsville officer spotted Rehn at a Speedway gas station at 2187 W., 4700 South “after observing suspicious activity there around 4:30 a.m.”

The officer said Rehn fled the parking lot on foot and “a short distance later, fired at the officer multiple times” according to a press release Friday.

Police issued an alert for the area, requesting residents to shelter in place as they looked for him. At approximately 7 a.m., when a 12-year-old boy spotted Rehn in his window well, his family called 911. Police found and confronted Rehn who had fled into the Manns neighborhood, close enough to the family’s home that the family heard the final gunshot.

Police said it is believed Rehn was experiencing homelessness.