Centerville police: Officer forced to shoot armed, suicidal man

Centerville police say they were forced to fatally shoot an armed and suicidal man after he answered pleas to surrender by pointing a handgun at officers.

Assistant Chief Paul Child said Monday that one Centerville officer was on administrative leave pending review of the Sunday afternoon shooting, which resulted in the death of 38-year-old Vincent John Farrand.

The 3:28 p.m. shooting at 550 South 300 East is being investigated by the Davis County Attorney's Office, Davis County Critical Incident Protocol Team and the Clearfield Police Department.

The incident began with a 911 call from Farrand's wife, who told a dispatcher that he was upset with a male acquaintance he thought had made an inappropriate advance toward her. Farrand and his wife had been arguing over the matter when he armed himself and left, indicating he was driving to the other man's home in Bountiful.

She also told the dispatcher that Farrand was suicidal.

Bountiful and Centerville police began looking for Farrand and his white Chevrolet truck, only to learn that he had returned to his own home in Centerville.

Three officers arrived at the Farrand residence, where the wife came outside and was removed from the area for her safety. Moments later, Farrand, gun in hand, also came outside and approached police in his front yard.

"While one officer stayed with [the wife] the other two officers confronted Vincent in the front yard," Child said. "One officer asked Vincent several times to put the gun down and to take his finger off of the trigger. The officer ... pled with him to put the gun down."

Instead, Farrand pointed the handgun at one of the officers. One of the officers fired four shots, striking Farrand. Paramedics were unable to save Farrand, who was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:27 p.m. Sunday, Child said.

Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation and pending determination by the state Medical Examiner's Office of the official cause of death, details on how many shots struck Farrand and where he was wounded were not released.

remims@sltrib.com

Twitter: @remims