UTAH COUNTY – Investigators are releasing more information about what led up to a low-speed chase and officer-involved shooting on I-15. However, they say they’re still puzzled about the man’s motives.
The chase and the shooting may have started over something as simple as someone locking their keys in their vehicle. Utah County Sheriff’s Sergeant Spencer Cannon says, “Nothing about this really makes sense.”
Investigators say Arturo Gallemore-Jimenez asked two people at a Nephi gas station for money to get to Salt Lake City, but then noticed the keys were locked in the truck. Cannon says, “The citizens said, ‘We’ll just call the police department. They’ll come unlock it.’ He said, ‘No, I can’t afford that.’ They said, ‘They don’t charge anything.’” Cannon says that’s when Gallemore-Jimenez reportedly made the drastic decision to shoot the window to get inside, adding, “They turned away for a minute and that’s when they heard the gunshot.”
During the officer-involved shooting, the suspect took two bullets, one in the upper forearm and the other on the right side of his neck. Cannon says he’ll be in the hospital for one more day. “He will be there until he’s released, at which point, he’ll be booked into the Utah County Jail,” he says.
Officers are not certain why Gallemore-Jimenez fired at his truck, or why he opened fire at the officers who tried to stop him. “Someone asked if, maybe, he was suicidal. He has expressed a desire to have us shoot him. But, if he was straight up suicidal, wanted to die and have somebody else do it, why would he wear body armor?” Cannon asks.
One of the bullets fired by Gallemore-Jimenez hit a man who was filling his car with gas. That man was treated and released from the hospital.
