Officer
is slain in West Jordan
Police say teenage
gunman killed self during foot chase
By Pat Reavy and Derek Jensen
Deseret News staff
writers
A West Jordan police officer died Monday morning after a 17-year-old boy
apparently shot him in the head, authorities said.
The boy later died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after being
chased and confronted by police, West Jordan Police Capt. Gary Cox said.
Doctors at University Hospital pronounced officer Ronald Wood, 39, dead
sometime before 10:45 a.m., hospital spokesman Phil Sahm said.
Police still had not released the name of the boy by press time Monday.
Wood was an eight-year veteran of the police force and worked in the patrol
division, Cox said. He was airlifted from the scene of the shooting to
University Hospital, where he was taken to the Neurocritical Care Unit,
Sahm said.
"I'm just numb," an emotional Cox told the Deseret News, adding that he
knew Wood "very well."
"He was a great man," Cox said. "He was one of the best. He is one of
the best.
He's a hard worker and a good kid."
The incident began about 7:45 a.m. when the boy's father called police
to report the boy had threatened him with a gun, Cox said. Police had been
looking for the boy since last week in connection with a string of armed
robberies, Cox said.
Wood spotted the boy near 7500 South and 2300 West, exited his car and
followed him into a park at 2350 W. 7500 South, Cox said.
"As officer Wood went through the gate to the park, he was shot by the
suspect," Cox said. "He was not able to return fire."
Shortly after the shooting, the boy carjacked an elderly woman north of
the park and used the woman's cell phone, Cox said. Police would not say
who he called.
At 2300 West and 7000 South, the boy exited the woman's car and tried to
carjack a male driving a sport utility vehicle, witnesses said. The boy
put a gun to the driver's head and the driver tried to get away by hitting
the gas, witness Brent Hildebrand said.
"The kid was in a panic," Hildebrand said of the driver. "He was in hysterics,
scared to death."
The driver declined to speak with reporters at the scene. When asked how
he was doing, he simply smiled and said, "I'm fine."
The boy then tried to carjack a third vehicle, which ended up being a West
Jordan police detective in an unmarked car, Cox said. When the detective
identified himself, the boy pointed his 9 mm gun at the officer.
"The officer returned fire and the suspect turned his own gun on himself
and fired," Cox said.
The boy was lying face down, motionless in front of a nearby house after
the shooting. Police eventually hung white sheets around the boy to keep
him hidden from spectators as police from at least four different agencies
saturated the neighborhood, blocking off streets and turning away curious
onlookers.
"These are people we work with on a daily basis. We give a lot for each
other. It creates an incredible bond. This is really difficult," Cox said
at the scene.
West Jordan High School was placed on lock-down Monday from 8:57 a.m. until
10:47 a.m. while police looked for a second boy, Tyler Atwood, 17. Police
were unsure if he was present when Wood was shot, Cox said. Both boys attended
West Jordan High School, Cox said.
SWAT team members confirmed they had rounded up several possible associates
of the boys for questioning.
Wood leaves behind a wife of 1 1/2 years, Cox said.
The last West Jordan police officer killed in the line of duty was Thomas
Rees in February 1986.
BY LINDA FANTIN and ASHLEY
BROUGHTON
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
WEST JORDAN - Police officers in this south valley city had grown accustomed to arriving at a crime scene only to find Ronald Wood, a gregarious patrolman with a get-up-and-go attitude, had gotten up and gotten there first. And so it was Monday, when Wood chased a 17-year-old armed robbery suspect to the entrance of a small city park tucked between rows of brick ramblers.
Sarah Sorensen, whose house borders the park, was awakened by shouting, but thought little of it.
"Then I heard the gunshots and someone started yelling, 'My friend shot a cop. My friend shot a cop.' "
When his colleagues arrived minutes later, Wood was dying from a head wound, and the desperate teen who allegedly shot him had fled to another quiet neighborhood where he reportedly turned the gun on himself.
The deadly pursuit stunned residents and the West Jordan Police Department which, until Monday, had never had an officer killed in pursuit of a suspect.
"We're not a real big department," said Capt. Gary Cox, police spokesman. "Everybody knew Ron and had worked with him. He had an amazing energy level and was very involved in the community. We've lost a great man."
Wood, 39, died at University Hospital shortly after 10:30 a.m. His alleged assailant, whose name was not released because of his age, was one of two teens suspected of robbing a West Jordan grocery store, another retail store and a fast-food restaurant during the past few weeks, Cox said. The second suspect, also 17, was arrested Monday afternoon. Cox said police were trying to determine whether he was present when Wood was shot. The Tribune does not name suspects before they are charged.
The boys, both students at West Jordan High School, spent Sunday night together at the second suspect's house at 7530 S. 2800 West. On Monday morning, when the first suspect's father arrived to pick him up, the teen brandished a gun and threatened him. The father left and called police. His son fled the house.
Wood spotted him on foot in a residential area near 7500 South 2300 West. The eight-year veteran got out of his car and began chasing the youth on foot. "That's the last we heard from [him]," Cox said.
Wood was shot as he entered the gates to a nearby neighborhood park in pursuit of the teen-ager. Investigators believe three shots were fired, but it was unclear how many struck Wood. "He did not have a chance to return fire," Cox said.
Neighbors told The Salt Lake Tribune that the teen's father was at the scene where Wood was gunned down, and that he used his cell phone to call for an ambulance -- details Cox refused to discuss.
The man's son fled the park and allegedly carjacked a nearby vehicle driven by a woman. He used her cell phone, Cox said, but police were still investigating the nature of the call.
The teen exited that vehicle and, according to police, attempted to carjack another, and eventually waived down an unmarked, gold Chevy sedan driven by a West Jordan police detective who was responding to the shooting scene.
Peggy Young watched out her front window as Detective Jim Lang's car crept along her street then suddenly flipped a U-turn and came to a screeching halt across the street in front of Wendy Fiagle's two-story home. Inside, Fiagle was getting her daughters ready for school.
Young and Fiagle said they heard one gunshot, a short pause, and then three more shots in rapid succession. Both looked outside and saw the boy lying on his side on Fiagle's front lawn and the officer pointing his gun at him. Police said the teen shot himself through the mouth.
Hours later, after police had removed all traces of the shooting, Fiagle recalled her initial fright.
"I closed the curtains and told my girls not to look out the window," Fiagle said. "I was really shaking because nothing like this ever happens here. When I heard the police officer died, that really hit me bad."
Police have yet to detail the exact sequence of events as they played out in front of Fiagle's house, such as whether Lang, who wearing a bullet-proof vest and a police jacket, was fired on first or whether any of his shots struck the youth. Cox did say that Lang exited his car while holding a police radio in one hand and drawing his gun with the other, and that he identified himself as a police officer. At least one of Lang's bullets pierced a shed owned by Phil Vest, who moved into the neighborhood three weeks ago.
"Pretty scary," Vest said, as he traced the bullet hole with his finger.
After the shootings, West Jordan High School was locked down for two hours because police feared the second suspect might head toward the school.
A man was arrested after he went to West Jordan High School to pick up his child, Cox said. Officers stationed at the school told him it was in lockdown and he could not enter. The man "became combative" and tried to run over an officer with his vehicle, Cox said. The man left the scene, but police pursued him and took him into custody with the help of a K-9 officer. The dog bit the man on the leg, and he was taken to Jordan Valley Hospital for treatment, Cox said.
Wood normally patrolled West Jordan on a motorcycle but was in a car Monday because of cold temperatures. His colleagues remembered him as an outgoing person who often went to neighborhood cookouts and showed his motorcycle to children. He loved sports and played softball with West Jordan's mayor pro tem, Natalie Argyle.
"He was very outgoing and generous with kids," Argyle said.
Wood leaves behind his wife of a year and a half.
The scene at the West Jordan Police Department was somber, with many officers crying openly. Cox also expressed sympathy for the dead teen-ager's father and other family members.
"As a parent myself I can't imagine losing a child and then to have lost them in a situation like this," Cox said. "He's got to be experiencing a whole range of emotions. It's got to be awfully tough on him."
Wood is the 55th Utah police officer to die in the line of duty. The last was Lehi officer Joseph D. Adams, 26, who was shot to death Aug. 3, 2001, while attempting to arrest 24-year-old Arturo Javier Scott Welch for driving without insurance and possession of cocaine. Welch was sentenced in April to life in prison without possibility of parole.
The only other West Jordan officer to die in the line of duty was Thomas M. Rees in 1986. Rees was killed during a training exercise.