SANDY, Utah — Terrifying moments Thursday for a local repairman as another driver allegedly shot at him as their two vehicles were driving along State Street in Sandy.
But within a matter of hours, the suspected trigger man was arrested and headed to jail, thanks to nearby security cameras and license plate readers.
It all happened around noon Thursday, right along State Street near 9800 South.
It was broad daylight and the man who was shot at said he had no idea what precipitated the violence or why someone would’ve shot at him.
Sandy Police Sgt. Michael Olsen said there’s no justification.
“I don’t believe there’s ever really an excuse for something like this.“
Sgt. Olsen said the suspect took an incident that was already dangerous and very nearly made it tragic.
“We had what started as what looks like a road rage that turned into a shooting. The suspect in this case looks like they fired a couple of shots at this van. And the van was hit, but luckily the driver was not so as of right now we have no injuries in this incident," he said.
FOX 13 News spoke with the owner of Appliance Service By Paul, who said his driver told him he had no idea why the suspect shot at him.
The good news is that within a matter of hours, Sandy Police had the shooting suspect in custody.
Officers said it was in large part thanks to nearby video surveillance cameras and license plate readers.
Chris Burbank is the former Salt Lake City police chief.
He said more and more of our daily lives are being documented on camera.
“Technology is amazing! I mean we’re wandering into an era where policing is going to change dramatically in the next 5 to 10 years. And any police agency that is not on top of this technology is going to be left behind.”
In this particular case, Sandy Police were able to use technology to their advantage and make a quick arrest.
Burbank said he hopes it will deter others from making similar decisions.
“Where have we gotten to the point that we care so little about human life that we’re gonna do something as ridiculous as that?”
The shooting suspect, a man in his 30’s, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail.
