Police: Several shots fired near large Farmington house party
Jun 11, 2023, 5:05 PM | Updated: 5:14 pm
FARMINGTON, Utah — The sound of more than a dozen gunshots woke up some people living in Farmington early Saturday morning.
Police say at approximately 1:30 am, several 911 calls came in, reporting multiple gunshots near the city’s East Bench on Sunset Drive. Two officers on patrol also heard the sound of gunfire.
Investigators said they found a large party on that street at the time. Officers checked the house, the people inside, and the guests leaving.
One male juvenile at the party was arrested for possession of a firearm by a restricted person. An adult man was also arrested for tampering with evidence. Police said no one was injured.
Martin Petersen lives down the street from where the party took place.
“Just a nice, quiet sleepy little place,” he said. “And it’s Farmington, right? We’ve got lots of mosquitos but not a lot of gunshots.”
He’s talking with his neighbors and reviewing anything caught on camera to try to get answers in this incident.
“It’s easier to just stand back and let somebody else handle it, and you can’t, especially when it’s your neighborhood, it’s your kids, it’s your street that has gun casings in it,” Petersen said. “I wish there was more I could do. I wish I had more cameras.”
His Ring camera caught cars driving by, two of them side by side, and the sound of several gunshots.
“My count, there were 19 gunshots,” Petersen said. “As a pretty strong gun advocate myself, I hear 19 gunshots, and I hear 19 stray bullets. I hear 19 potentials for injury. I hear 19 stupid things.”
Brandy Lockwood, Petersen’s wife, said they looked for bullet holes or other damage later in the morning.
“When we got up is when we started investigating and found all the bullet casings,” she said.
Petersen said he counted ten on his street.
Farmington police said they’ve responded to similar calls at the same address where the party took place. They said the people detained that night were not cooperative.
“How does a 16-year-old have a firearm?” Petersen said. “Where does a 16-year-old get a firearm from? Were there four carloads of kids, and one’s taking the fall?”
Police ask anyone with information to call the Farmington City Police Department at 801 451-5453.
