ST. GEORGE — Police say a man barricaded himself inside a house in a St. George neighborhood and exchanged gunfire with law enforcement officers Tuesday, and then surrendered to them after the house somehow caught fire.
About 2:40 p.m., police received a call from someone reporting they heard gunfire in the Little Valley area. Police Chief Kyle Whitehead said officers responded to the area, near 3000 East and Seegmiller Drive, and were met with gunfire coming from inside a home.
Officers returned fire, Whitehead said, and a SWAT team was brought in to try to convince the gunman inside to come out. The chief said the man continued to shoot at officers while the SWAT team contained the area.
Police were able to verify that the gunman was the only person in the house and evacuated occupants of nearby homes, Whitehead said. They also issued a shelter-in-place order for other homes in the area.
About 4:30 p.m., the house the barricaded man was in somehow caught on fire, Whitehead said. At that point, the man decided to come out of the house and surrender.
Two floors of the home were on fire by the time the man was taken into custody, according to St. George Fire Chief Robert Stoker. Firefighters at the scene jumped in quickly and extinguished the flames. Stoker said they plan to stay throughout the evening to identify and douse any hot spots.
The house is a “total loss,” Stoker said, and the cause of the fire is under investigation. An investigation is also taking place to determine a motive for the shooting, according to Whitehead.
The police chief said his detectives know who the man is, but he declined to release the man’s name Tuesday. He said he was not aware of any injuries to anyone involved in the incident.
“We’re just glad we were able to resolve this quickly, and we appreciate the pubic and their cooperation,” Whitehead said.
This story may be updated.
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