Around 1:45 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 12, dispatchers received a 911 call reporting that one individual had allegedly been shot during a domestic dispute in the Eagle Park neighborhood of Eagle Mountain.
Deputies who were on duty at the time quickly arrived on scene where they found one individual with severe bleeding from an alleged gunshot wound.
The victim was flown by LifeFlight to Utah Valley Hospital in Provo where he is expected to make a full recovery, according to a press release from the Utah County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies also found an elderly man in the home unharmed and helped him to safety.
Around 2 p.m., residents within a half-mile of the incident received a reverse-911 alert from the Sheriff’s Office warning residents to shelter in place until further notice.
Four schools in the affected area were placed on “secure mode” in response to the incident: Cedar Valley High School, Frontier Middle School, Eagle Valley Elementary and Mountain Trails Elementary.
Sgt. Spencer Cannon, Public Information Officer for the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, says it’s important to know the distinction between securing schools and locking them down.
“Lockdown would be more of something that would do if you’re worried about somebody getting into the school,” says Cannon.
Cannon says the UCSO was not concerned about any harm coming to students at the school because the incident was contained.
“But if we started releasing the kids,” says Cannon, “many of them would be coming home to the very neighborhood where the incident was happening… and we couldn’t allow that.”
All four schools remained on secure mode and Pony Express Pkwy. remained closed from Aviator Ave. to Eagle Mountain Blvd. until the suspect surrendered to law enforcement officers around 4 p.m.
Shortly after, the shelter in place was lifted and Pony Express Pkwy. was opened, and students were released to go home.
Incidents such as the alleged shooting on Kestrel Way require plenty of moving parts to contain. Deputies must quickly respond and assess the situation. Residents and schools must be notified; streets need to be closed.
Cannon says the response to contain the situation and keep it contained happened “almost seamlessly.”
Utah County Sheriff’s deputies were able to smoothly and safely contain the situation with the help of other neighboring law enforcement agencies, such as Saratoga Springs Police Department, SWAT and other nearby agencies.
Cannon says the total number of people on the scene was around 65 to 70.
While Cannon is very pleased with how the incident was handled by the UCSO and other agencies, he expresses his gratitude to the public for its cooperation.
“We got good cooperation from the public,” he said. “And that makes an incident like that go much better.”
The suspect was booked into the Utah County Jail on several charges and is currently being held without bail.
