Shots Fired Inside Police Lobby In Utah, Officers Escape Injury

Shots were fired inside a police lobby in a Salt Lake City suburb on Monday after a man pulled a gun and pointed it toward the department’s officers.

Police said a man entered the lobby of the West Valley City police department and began acting suspiciously. The suspect went to a partition and asked an officer to come out, and, when several officers came to help the man pulled out a gun, prompting officers to fire shots at him inside the police lobby.

The suspect, later identified as 39-year-old James Ramsey Kammeyer, was hit twice in the arm. Police say they aren’t sure if the suspect ever fired his gun.

“His behavior was such that it was alarming to the officer right off,” said Sgt. Jason Hauer.

Kammeyer was later taken to a hospital, but his injuries are not considered major. He is expected to be released later on the day on Monday and will be charged with a number of felonies related to the shooting in the police lobby.

After the shots were fired in the police lobby, officers taped off the area as a crime scene, finding a handgun belonging to the suspect along with numerous bullet holes in a lobby window.

The incident prompted city officials to put a hold on light-rail service near the police department, and bus service was also briefly stopped in the area near the police lobby shooting.

“This is supposed to be a safe, civilian place,” said Bonnie Barkhimer, who witnessed the scene while sitting on the light rail train near the police station. “Not a place of gunfire.”

A similar incident took place in New Jersey late last year. A suspect in a domestic violence case pulled out a gun in a police station, shooting three officers.

Even before the shots were fired in the police lobby, the West Valley Police Department had drawn national attention when a group of narcotics officers were the subject of an FBI probe.