Body camera shows Provo police attempting to arrest Matt Hoover before he shot officer Shinners
Jun 4, 2024, 6:50 PM
A Provo police officer pointing his firearm at Hoover while issuing commands on Jan. 5, 2019. (The Provo Police Department)
(The Provo Police Department)
PROVO — Newly obtained body camera shows the tense moments of Provo police officers attempting to arrest a wanted fugitive who fatally shot an officer in 2019.
On Jan. 5, 2019, at approximately 10 p.m., the Provo Police Department arranged a meet-up with Matt Frank Hoover and a woman who was a police informant at a Bed Bath & Beyond parking lot on 50 W. University Parkway, according to court documents.
During Hoover’s murder trial, a Provo police officer testified that officers followed Hoover’s car into the parking lot and began to box in Hoover with police cars and armed officers.
In body camera video provided by the Provo Police Department, armed officers approached Hoover’s driver’s side door and commanded him to raise his hands while trying to open the locked door.
Body camera shows officers hitting the window with their firearms in an attempt to break it, with one officer saying, “Here, bust his window. Bust his window out.”
A Provo officer using his firearm in an attempt to break the window while shouting commands at Hoover. (The Provo City Police Department)
According to police, an officer was getting into Hoover’s truck as it was starting to move. In the video, Hoover’s truck goes backward and then forward over a sidewalk and into a wall, which spins the truck to a stop.
In the trial, a Provo police officer said that Hoover was in the driver’s seat while Provo police officer Joseph Shinners and another officer were on top of the informant’s legs. The officer testified that Shinners yelled, “Drop the gun, drop the gun.”
Hoover driving away from police before hitting the building. (The Provo Police Department)
The Provo officer testified he turned the truck off and heard three gunshots. The officer said the other officer grabbed the gun that Hoover shot.
In the body camera footage, police were able to detain the informant and place Hoover in custody. As the officer walks back to his car, Shinner is seen hunched over and moaning as another officer attends to him.
Edited video of Shinner on the ground due to being shot by Hoover. (The Provo Police Department)
The footage shows the two officers placing Shinner into a police truck and rushing him to Utah Valley Hospital. An officer in the back of the truck with Shinner talked to him and placed pressure on the wounds. According to police, Shinner died from his injuries after arriving at the hospital. Court documents stated that Hoover was being arrested for probation violations on the night of the shooting.
After a five-year delay in the trial, on March 15, 2024, Hoover was found guilty of aggravated murder, possession of a dangerous weapon as a restricted person, failure to stop at the command of police, and drug possession.
He will be sentenced to life in prison without parole on June 4.
