Slaying by police is probed

OGDEN — Police hope to wrap up an internal investigation by the end of this week into the officer-involved shooting of Jessie Turnbow.

"Then it's up to the chief to determine what he wants to do," Ogden Police Lt. Scott Conley said Wednesday.

The police shooting of Jessie Turnbow marks the fourth officer-involved shooting in Weber County this year.

"We've had a bunch this year," said Weber County Attorney Mark DeCaria. His office has investigated the last three, clearing the officers in each case.

On Tuesday, the Weber County Attorney's Office launched another investigation into whether three Ogden police officers were justified in shooting Turnbow, who witnesses said fired several rounds from a sawed-off shotgun at police on Monday night.

Family members and neighbors said Turnbow, 29, got into an argument with his girlfriend Monday afternoon and stormed out of the couple's home near 34th Street and Adams Avenue and walked up to the intersection of 35th Street and Jefferson Avenue, where he was confronted by officers. One witness reported hearing Turnbow shout "shoot me."

"All of a sudden all hell broke loose," Esther Green told the Deseret Morning News. "You could hear the shotgun, boom!"

In what was described as a shootout, Turnbow and officers exchanged multiple shots before Turnbow was killed. Shotgun spray hit a police car. Police bullets punctured the side of a car parked in a driveway.

The neighborhood where the shooting occurred is described by some residents as "rough."

"It's getting worse out here," Sarah Powell said.

Conley said the three officers involved are undergoing critical incident debriefings. All Ogden police officers are required to undergo training twice a year about when to shoot and when not to shoot.

"That possibility of confrontation is out there. That's why we train the individual the way we do to be ready for that when it occurs," he said Wednesday. "It's a very stressful and emotional time when an officer is put in a life-threatening situation."

In the past officer-involved shootings in Weber County:

• A Weber County sheriff's deputy was cleared of any wrongdoing in the shooting of Warren Fellows. Deputies said Fellows, 44, went to Art Backus' West Haven home and shot and killed him in a confrontation. Fellows was wounded and is now serving a prison sentence for the murder.