Police: Suspect shot, hospitalized after exchanging gunfire with Orem officers

OREM, Utah — One man was hospitalized after exchanging gunfire with Orem police officers on Thursday.

The Orem Police Department said officers responded to a home in the area of 400 South and 700 East just after 4 a.m. after receiving reports of a family fight where a man had possibly discharged a firearm.

Police said they contacted the man, who was in a basement apartment, while other family members were evacuated from the home and taken to a safe location.

Negotiations started with the suspect who “stepped out of the home with a gun and exchanged gunfire with the officers on scene several times,” Orem police said in a statement.

Neighbors told KSL TV’s Matt Rascon they heard gunshots around 5 a.m. Thursday. One of them said officers yelled for a man to come out with his hands up without a firearm, but the man responded that he couldn’t do that.

It may be winding down. An officer told a neighbor they got the guy. Then an ambulance pulled up to the home. The officers who were on the roof are climbing off. An armored vehicle just pulled away too. pic.twitter.com/FFkGGOSXy5

— Matt Rascon (@MattRasconNews) September 29, 2022

After several hours of negotiations, the man was taken into custody and transported to an area hospital for medical treatment.

No update on his condition was provided by police.

Orem Police spokesperson Lt. Nick Thomas confirmed with KSL that officers returned fire but that no officers were injured.

Neighbors described tense moments of hearing gunshots and seeing snipers on the roofs of nearby homes.

“I heard what I thought was maybe three shots,” Bliss Tew, who lives across the street said. “Then I heard about bang, bang, bang, bang, maybe four more.”

“You don’t expect it here,” Tew said. “Everybody was calling each other. Everybody was concerned in the neighborhood.”

Another neighbor said he called dispatch to make sure the situation wasn’t a training.

“I scanned to the right and there were snipers on the roof,” said Sterling Lewis. “It’s definitely action that we normally wouldn’t see around here.”

The Utah County Officer-Involved Critical Incident Team will handle the investigation. Several police vehicles were seen blocking roads near 400 South and 700 East while officers were on scene; 400 South was reopened at 11:15 a.m.

They just opened up 400 south. Put police tape up. It happened in the basement of this home. pic.twitter.com/n0KrAlL8Al

— Matt Rascon (@MattRasconNews) September 29, 2022