Neighbors: Ogden Shooting Suspect Had Aggressive History

OGDEN, Utah — The suspect accused in the shooting death of Ogden police Officer Nathan Lyday had a criminal history that spans several states. Nearby residents said they weren’t surprised, and that he regularly acted aggressively toward adults and children in the neighborhood.

Gunfire between the suspect, 53-year-old John Benedict Coleman, and police erupted in front of his home on the 300 block of Jackson Avenue shortly after noon Thursday.

Officers were responding to a domestic violence call that quickly escalated into a fatal shooting.

“Boom boom boom, and then pop pop pop pop. It was that fast,” said Sarah Connell, who lives two doors down from Coleman’s house. “Then I looked out the window and saw a cop there, and a cop there.”

That’s when Connell said she gathered her kids and headed for the basement, where they stayed until the chaos was over.

“As soon as I heard the gunshots, I knew he had just finally lost it, and snapped and gone crazy,” she said, referring to Coleman.

Connell said she and other neighbors had verbal run-ins with Coleman ever since he moved in four or five years ago.

“He just screams at anybody that walks by his house. He threatens people. He’s crazy,” she said.

Police said a woman called 911 shortly after noon Thursday, reporting that her husband had threatened to kill her.

When officers arrived, they were confronted by Coleman, who ran inside the home and started shooting through the door.

Officer Lyday was killed, and a probation officer was injured.

Coleman was later found dead inside the home.

Connell said her kids played with Coleman’s kids when they first moved in, but after one of his kids got hurt while playing, he turned on her kids when they went to apologize.

“He met them at the hedge right there and started screaming at them and threatening them and threatening my husband not to come on his sidewalk or his road ever again,” said Connell. “Every summer, he just gets a little more wild.”

She said she rarely saw his wife or kids.

Over the years, Connell said she called the police on Coleman 16 times for aggressive and frightening behavior. She said he often carried a large knife in a sheath on his waistband.

“Every time we would call the police, we would tell them, ‘He does have firearms, you do need to be careful,'” she said.

Police have responded to the home numerous times.

They said Coleman had a criminal past that spans several states.