Gunman kills self during Layton standoff

LAYTON — A standoff between police and a man who had threatened to shoot members of his family ended when the man killed himself Wednesday.

SWAT negotiators had been talking with the man since about 10 a.m. but lost contact with him around 3:30 p.m., said Layton Police Lt. Quinn Moyes. When they had obtained a search warrant about an hour later, police entered the home, near 2200 North and U.S. 89, and found the man dead inside his garage.

"We did everything we could to have him come out peacefully and resolve it that way," Moyes said. "We did everything we could."

The incident started Wednesday morning when a man called 911 and said another man had pointed a gun at him. When officers arrived, the man who called 911 and two family members were able to escape from inside the home.

The SWAT team was then called out, and a negotiator began talking with the man, police said.

"We've been communicating off and on with him by cell phone," Moyes said during the standoff. "He's not agitated or hostile. It's a very calm conversation."

During those conversations, however, the man did make "threats of hurting himself," police said.

"Then we lost communication and we continued to call, but the phone would just go to voice mail and ring," Moyes said. "When we obtained the search warrant, that's when we made the decision to go inside."

SWAT team members used a diversionary device and entered the home. They found the man sitting inside a Jeep parked in the garage, dead with a gunshot wound to his head.

"Nobody heard the gunshot," Moyes said.

— Ben Winslow and Aaron Falk