OGDEN, Utah (Reuters) ? Six police officers were shot, one of them fatally, when a gunman said to be an Iraq war veteran opened fire on them as they served a drug-related search warrant, authorities said on Thursday.
The suspect shot at the officers late Wednesday evening as they approached the home in a quiet residential neighborhood of Ogden, one hour north of Salt Lake City, Ogden police Lieutenant Danielle Croyle said.
Local drug task force agent Jared Francom was pronounced dead on Thursday, Croyle said. The five wounded officers were being treated at McKay-Dee hospital in Ogden.
"We have lost a brother. We will grieve this loss, he will be sorely missed," said Weber County Sheriff Terry Thompson.
Police on Thursday identified the suspect, who was injured in the shootout with officers, as Matthew Stewart, 37.
Stewart is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries suffered when the officers returned fire, and is under guard at a hospital, authorities said.
He has a limited criminal history, Ogden police chief Wayne Tarwater told reporters at a press conference, although he would not elaborate.
A woman who lives two houses down from Stewart said that he was "really quiet" and neighbors knew little about him.
"We'd see each other across the yard and say hello," said Jerri Johnson, a mother of three children. "My ex-husband knew him and knew that he was an Iraq veteran. My ex-husband had also been in Iraq."
Police declined to comment on whether Stewart was a U.S. military veteran.
WOUNDED OFFICER DRAGGED ACROSS LAWN
Police released few details of the incident that broke out in the quiet, residential neighborhood, and did not comment on reports that Drug Enforcement Agency officers were involved in the incident.
Other wounded officers were agents Shawn Grogan, Kaseyt Burrell, and Michael Rounkles of the Ogden police; Sgt. Nate Hutchinson of the Weber County Sheriff's Department; and Agent Jason Vanderworf of the Roy Police Department.
The shooting occurred after a "knock and announce" search warrant based on "drug activity" by the Weber-Morgan Narcotics Task Force, said Tarwater, who was visibly shaken while speaking to reporters on Thursday.
The shooting also occurred on Ogden Mayor Mike Caldwell's first day on the job.
"It was an overwhelming first day in office," Caldwell said. "We will be forever changed. All of our thoughts and prayers are with the family."
Neighbors reported hearing shots ring out. Shayne Blakeley, 43, who lives two blocks away from the scene of the incident, said he was walking his yellow labrador.
"I was walking down the street and I heard about 12 shots go off," he said. "Then all of the cops started to arrive."
He counted at least 21 police vehicles at the scene, adding: "It shouldn't happen in our neighborhood."
Johnson was home when she heard the shooting begin.
"I kind of out of reflex opened my front door to see what was going on, and could hear gunshots. Then it really sunk in what was going on," she said. "I saw three police officers on my front lawn. One had already been shot and was laying on the lawn. The other two were trying to get him help."
After telling her kids, aged 8, 10, and 14, to lay down on the floor of the bedroom, she saw officers drag the wounded policeman across her front lawn as more bullets flew.
"It was unbelievable, the amount of gunfire," she said.
Federal officers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were at the scene of the crime on Thursday morning, but would not comment to reporters.
Candles and flowers were left at a church in the neighborhood where the shooting occurred. Dozens of officers waited at the hospital for word on the condition of their wounded colleagues.
Ogden, located about 40 miles north of Salt Lake City, has a population of 82,825.
(Additional reporting by Lauren Keiper, Dan Whitcomb and Cynthia Johnston; Writing by Mary Slosson; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Peter Bohan)
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