Man shot, killed by Summit County deputy identified as military veteran

KAMAS — A man shot and killed by police near Kamas on Thursday has been identified as a military veteran who previously made headlines in connection with a deadly incident involving unarmed Iraqi civilians in 2007.

The Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office on Friday said Donald Wayne Ball, 41, was shot and killed by a Summit County sheriff’s deputy after Ball allegedly “advanced toward the deputy wielding a large blunt object. In response, the deputy discharged his firearm.”

The incident began about 12:30 a.m. Thursday when a Summit County sheriff’s deputy spotted a vehicle in the Kamas area registered to Ball, who had a no-bail warrant out for his arrest, according to a prepared statement from Wasatch County.

“The driver of the vehicle evaded the stop, leading to a pursuit that concluded in a crash on Bench Creek Road in Wasatch County,” the department stated.

After the crash, police say Ball exited his vehicle and advanced on the deputy.

According to the sheriff’s office, the arrest warrant was for a probation violation stemming from a 2018 criminal mischief conviction.

Man fatally shot after approaching deputy with ‘large blunt object,’ Wasatch County Sheriff’s say

Court records state Ball was charged in 2018 and convicted in 2019 after pleading no contest to two amended counts of attempted criminal mischief. In that case, wires to a broadcast tower that facilitated the emergency paging system for Summit and Wasatch County were cut, according to charging documents.

Ball was identified as a suspect using trail cameras. Deputies investigating that case also learned that Ball “was known to think the government was out to get him with radio waves,” according to charging documents.

Investigators further learned that Ball had allegedly committed the same crime in other counties and that he had a military background, the charges state. When a deputy made contact with Ball and tried talking to him, “he kept getting agitated as we spoke. I noticed the things Donald was talking about were not typical of a normal person as he kept telling me my radio was frying him and putting androids in his body and it was all a conspiracy by President Trump and the corrupt politicians,” charging documents state.

Ball also talked about how veterans were not being treated well by the U.S. government, according to the charges. After entering no contest pleas, he was sentenced to probation and ordered to continue treatment at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

In February of this year, however, an arrest warrant was issued after he failed to show up for a scheduled meeting with Adult Probation and Parole, according to court documents. At that time, state agents were told that Ball was “living in a cabin out by Woodland (Summit County).”

In 2008, Ball was one of five former guards for the private security contractor Blackwater Worldwide accused of killing 14 unarmed Iraqis and wounding 20 others in September 2007 in Baghdad. The charges against Ball were later dismissed.

Wednesday’s officer-involved shooting will be investigated by a multi-agency task force led by the Utah Attorney General’s Office. The Summit County deputy who fired his gun has been placed on standard administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.