By LIBBY WOOD
An Orem police car was the target of a drive-by shooting late Wednesday night. The car was parked outside an Orem officer’s home at the time of the shooting.
“I was laying in bed, just about to go to sleep, and I heard three shots,” the officer said.
The officer said he got up, grabbed his gun and bullet-proof vest, and ran outside to look into the situation. The name and address of the officer is being held for his protection.
Police investigating the situation found four bullet holes in and around the car. One shot went through the back door on the driver’s side, another hit the back left tire, and two bullets hit a wooden fence next to the car.
Lieutenant Connor of the Orem Police Department said they have no leads in the case.
“One neighbor heard a car speeding away but that was it,” Lieutenant Connor said.
Lieutenant Connor said the police department is unsure why the perpetrators committed the crime. The officer victimized by the shooting believes he was not specifically targeted.
“I think it was a crime of circumstance,” he said.
The officer said he will not rule out the possibility that he was targeted, but will continue to assume it was a random act of violence until there is proof otherwise.
Lieutenant Connor said this occurrence will not change the department’s policy which allows officers to park patrol cars outside their houses. He said the benefits of the current policy outweigh the deficits, because it allows officers to respond more quickly to calls. He said the response time would be much larger if the policy was changed, because officers would have to drive to the station and pick up a patrol car before going out on a case. He said the current policy also allows off-duty officers to respond quickly.
The victim of the crime agrees with Lieutenant Connor. He said parking patrol cars in neighborhoods is usually beneficial.
“I think it deters crime to have the car sitting there,” he said.
