SPRINGVILLE, Utah — One man was killed after opening fire on Springville police officers who were checking on him after he was in a car crash early Sunday morning.
“It’s not something that we look to do. It’s not what we wake up in the morning, put our uniform on, come out to the streets and think, ‘This is what I want to do in life.’ That’s not what we are, who we are,” said Lt. Warren Foster with the Springville Police Department.
Police originally responded to the area of 1500 West 150 North just at around 5 a.m. after reports of shots being fired. The caller told dispatch that they didn’t see anything, but the shots sounded like semi-automatic rapid fire. A second caller also claimed to hear 8-10 rapid-fire shots.
While searching the area for a possible shooter, an officer came upon a traffic accident at 1200 West 1000 South. When the officer exited his vehicle to check on the driver or others involved in the accident, the driver opened fire, starting an exchange with the first officer and another that arrived shortly afterward. Nobody else was in the car.
“We just never know what we’re going to walk up to, we don’t know what’s going on in people’s minds,” said Foster.
During the shootout, one of the officers was shot and sustained a non-life-threatening injury to his leg. They were transported via ambulance to the hospital.
“We have no idea why, we don’t know the motive, we have no idea what his reasoning was,” he said.
The suspect was also shot and pronounced dead at the scene. He was later identified as 46-year-old Mathew Scott Nielsen from Springville.
“Our hearts do go out to the family. We know it’s not going to be easy for them and we do hope for their comfort,” said Foster.
Officers from the Utah County Sheriff's Office, Spanish Fork and Mapleton Police Departments also assisted during the incident.
This was the second police shooting in Utah this weekend. In Taylorsville late Friday night, a man who was reportedly threatening officers with scissors and a knife during a mental health crisis was shot and critically wounded.
