Tremonton residents in shock after tragic shooting claims lives of 2 officers

TREMONTON, Utah (ABC4) — Tremonton residents are reacting to the tragic shooting that left two officers dead and another, along with a K-9, injured Sunday night.

Tyson and Tiffany Taylor spoke with ABC4, detailing the events as they experienced them.

“I guess someone kept hitting the distress button on their phone. I was out cleaning my truck. I jumped out because I saw [the officer] drive by a couple times and asked him what he was doing,” Tyson said.

The officer asked Tyson if he had hit the distress button on his phone. When Tyson said he hadn’t, the officer left. Around 15 minutes later, Tyson and Tiffany heard the first gunshot. Tyson thought it was a firework at first, then there was some yelling.

“We decided to jump in his truck and make sure, whatever happened, people were OK,” Tiffany told ABC4.

The pair drove toward the house where the incident was ongoing, stopping outside briefly to talk to an officer.

“The officer was on the corner by the school,” Tyson said. “I just asked him, ‘Hey, I thought I heard fireworks or something.’ He was getting out of his car. He’s like, ‘No, your neighbor’s shooting guns and it’s an active shooter right now so get home.'”

Tyson and Tiffany drove home. Only 30 seconds later, they said they heard three more shots. They later found out two officers had been killed — something they couldn’t have imagined happening in their small town.

“It’s Tremonton, it’s just a small town,” Tyson said.

Tiffany added that they know most of their neighbors. It just so happens that those were the neighbors they didn’t know, she said.

“We love our neighbors, we love our community,” Tiffany said. “Our kids walk past that house every single day. They ride their bikes around there every single day.”

She said the thought of letting her kids play outside right next to a house where someone could commit murder is terrifying.

“It was awful, awful to hear the officer passed,” Tiffany said.

Another Tremonton resident, Kevin Richard, said he was sleeping on the couch when he faintly heard a banging noise. His wife went to check on their kids, to see if they had made the noise, and saw police lights outside.

Richard said what was originally two or three police cars quickly turned into a number of cars, including SWAT. He reiterated what Tyson said, that this sort of thing doesn’t happen in Tremonton.

“It’s really sad,” Richard said. “I had just met a handful of [officers] at the softball versus the fire department game at the Tremonton Hay Days, like, literally a couple weeks ago. I hope it wasn’t one of the ones I met, but just sad.”

Richard added that anyone out there suffering from domestic violence should reach out to the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.