Body cam shows Ogden man killed in police shootout who was fighting with women outside a bar
By: 0:00 - 911 calls
3:00 - Bar surveillance
3:11 - Officer 2 body cam
3:35 - Intermission
3:52 - Officer 1 body cam (dash cam audio)
5:07 - House surveillance
6:29 - Officer 2 body cam
7:48 - Photos
-----
The Ogden man who police shot and killed Tuesday after he opened fire on an officer had been on parole and was fighting with a woman near a 25th Street bar before the shootout, Ogden police Chief Eric Young said Wednesday.
Alex Lopez, 23, was convicted in 2019 on four counts of discharging a firearm, a felony. He was released from parole later that year, then rearrested in 2021 for violating parole before being released again, Young said.
Young mentioned Lopez’s criminal history at a news conference Wednesday, during which he expressed concern about the 2015 Justice Reinvestment Initiative Act, which reduced several Utah sentencing guidelines and put maximums on the amount of time someone could serve for violating parole.
“I fear that as Utahns, we have become numb to the problem and its repetitive nature,” Young said.
This marked the second Ogden police shooting within a week. On the afternoon of June 6, an Ogden officer was shot after police were called to the scene of a reported protective order violation at the Washington Park Apartments complex, located at 170 N. Washington Blvd, and an “exchange of gunfire” ensued. The officer was treated for survivable injuries, but the man the police shot died at the scene.
However, Ogden’s numbers for violent crime have remained steady, Young noted Wednesday. “Part one crime,” considered the most serious of violent crime, has actually seen a reduction of 51% over the past 15 years in Ogden, he said.
“We’ve seen a drastic reduction,” Young said. “Which even leads to my concern that we’re seeing this larger proportion of criminals that are trying to be rehabilitated in our community rather than in a place where they’re safe.”
Just before 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, two callers at a bar near the 100 block of 25th Street reported that Lopez was in a fight with a woman in a parking lot. Both callers identified the vehicle he got into as a SUV, which Young said was stolen. Officers responded to the area and attempted a traffic stop on 17th Street, but Lopez drove off.
Again, officers attempted to stop him on 8th Street, but Lopez got out of the car and fired shots at both police vehicles present. The officer who got out of a patrol car and returned fire, shooting Lopez, has not been identified.
Lopez died at the scene. No officers were injured, and the officer who shot Lopez is on administrative leave, according to department protocol. The shooting will be investigated by the Weber-Morgan “critical incident task force.”
Currently, nine Ogden police officers are on administrative leave due to shootings, Young said.
At the time of the Tuesday police shooting, there was a passenger in the stolen SUV that Lopez was driving, Young said. That person took off from the area and remains out of custody.