Fleeing suspect fires at officer after shooting at Midvale motel

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MIDVALE — A man who has served time in federal prison was arrested again after police say he shot another man in a motel early Wednesday and then shot at an officer chasing him.

The officer was not injured and did not return fire, police said.

Michael West Burke, 56, was arrested for investigation of aggravated assault producing a loss of consciousness, aggravated assault, two counts of robbery, transaction of a firearm by a restricted person, and four counts of felony discharge of a firearm. He was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail.

The incident happened about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday at Motel 6, 7263 S. Catalpa St. Unified police were already at the motel on an unrelated call when the manager told them there had just been a shooting in one of the rooms, said Unified Police Sgt. Melody Gray.

A 32-year-old man was shot in the head and chest, according to a police affidavit. He was taken to a local hospital in critical condition and later upgraded to serious, Gray said.

Another officer ran after the suspected gunman. As the officer was chasing the man through the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant, Burke fired two rounds at the officer from about 40 yards away, Gray said.

Later, police received information of a man with a bloody hand seen going into a storage unit near 400 West and 6800 South. The Unified police SWAT team was already getting ready to serve a warrant on an unrelated case, so they first stopped at the storage unit where the alleged gunman from the motel was taken into custody without further incident, Gray said.

It was not immediately known how the man was injured. Gray said it appeared to detectives that he was living in the storage unit.

After he was taken into custody, Burke led officers to where he discarded his gun, “because he didn’t want a child to find it,” according to the affidavit.

“Burke took officers to a nearby field and showed officers where the firearm was,” the affidavit states. “The firearm was later found to be stolen out of Idaho (in April).”

Detectives then interviewed Burke who admitted shooting the victim, stating “he was upset with (the man) because (he) was accusing him of raping a female. Burke stated that he should have unloaded his clip into (the man),” according to the affidavit.

Burke told police he shot at the officer so he would stop chasing him, the affidavit states.

Detectives also learned that Burke may have been involved in a recent bank robbery in Murray on Aug. 18 and a second in Unified police’s area on Monday, according to the affidavit.

“Burke described detailed information concerning both robberies that matched information that police had from the crime scenes to include getaway vehicles and approximate amounts of money taken in each bank robbery,” the affidavit states.

Burke was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison in 2001 for an armed carjacking, a crime for which his partner was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

from Deseret News https://ift.tt/2ExFdBT