Police: Sandy officer, suspect shot during SWAT situation
Sep 8, 2021, 5:51 AM | Updated: 2:06 pm
SANDY, Utah — An officer was shot during a SWAT situation Wednesday morning, according to Sgt. Clay Swensen with the Sandy Police Department.
Swensen said the suspect was also shot at the Arcadia Apartments near 242 W. Harrison Street around 5 a.m.
A large police presence responded to the complex and authorities said both the officer and suspect were taken to area hospitals with injuries that were not considered to be life-threatening.
Police said both were in stable condition.
Swensen said the officer, a long-time veteran and member of the SWAT team, was shot as he entered a unit on the second floor of the Arcadia Apartments to serve a search warrant.
This fist bump b/w officers & @Sandy_Police SWAT Team 🙏… Just before 5 a.m. a member of the Team was shot while serving search warrant at Arcadia Apts.,242 W Harrison St. Police say a person in apt also shot. Both expected to be ok. Unclear if more people were in apt. @KSL5TV pic.twitter.com/LEZVBKLsV9
— Garna Mejia KSL (@GarnaMejiaKSL) September 8, 2021
Cristina Pau’u and her family, who live down the hallway from that unit, said they woke up to loud noises that turned out to be at least three gunshots.
“We thought it was just people knocking on doors and evacuating but realized it was a whole different situation,” she said. “I started hearing more things like telling someone to get a shield, so I looked again through the door and it was a police officer that had grabbed a woman, put her on the side like moving her away.”
Swensen said officers from others jurisdictions responded to aid the department and are rallying around the injured officer.
“It has an effect on everybody,” he said. “It’s scary for all of us. This is our friend, our co-worker.”
Authorities have not confirmed if the injured suspect was the person who shot the officer nor if the injured officer fired the shots that struck the suspect.
The county’s officer-involved critical incident protocol has been activated and will be investigating the shooting, according to Swensen.
