One cop dead, 5 hurt in Utah drug raid shootout

OGDEN, Utah -- Authorities say a Utah police officer has died following a shootout that left five other officers and a suspect wounded.

Ogden police say in a statement early Thursday that Jared Francom died from his wounds following Wednesday night's drug-related shooting. He leaves behind a wife and two young children.

Five police officers from multiple agencies remain hospitalized with serious to critical injuries. No more information on their conditions was released.

The suspect in the shooting is at a local hospital under guard, with non-life threatening injuries.

Shooting erupted shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday as anti-drug police tried to served a search warrant at a home in an Ogden neighborhood.

The Standard-Examiner in Ogden says police eventually surrounded the suspect near a backyard shed.

The residence was secured after the arrest, and at 9:45 p.m., police announced that there was no longer a threat to the community, the paper said.

Nearby witnesses said they heard three quick pops, followed by a two-to-three minute pause, then lots of gunfire.

"We came running outside to see what was going on," Janessa Vanderstappen, who lives nearby, told the Deseret News. "Officers told us to go back in our house."

Vanderstappen said she went back inside, and minutes later heard yelling coming from the backyard. She said she walked onto the back porch to see officers addressing a person hiding in a nearby shed.

"There's cops telling him to 'put your hands up, put your hands up,"' she said.

Mat Weinberger, who lives about a half block from the scene, said he first thought the noise was fireworks.

From the porch, he told the Salt Lake Tribune that he could see several police cars parked at a nearby intersection. He also could hear a voice on the police radio shout that an officer was down.

He estimated that between 30 to 40 shots were fired during the shootout.

"Chaotic end to a quiet night," he said.