Charges: Provo man yelled, ‘You’re gonna die’ while shooting officer

PROVO – A Provo man injured in a police shootout was accused on Wednesday of shooting a police officer and two others.

Keith Justin Taylor, 44, is on trial in the 4th District Court on three charges of attempted murder, a first degree crime, and the illegal surrender of a gun, a third degree crime.

On February 25, police responded to a report from a man with a gun who was “acting crazy” and firing gunfire at Vista Ridge Apartments, 80 p. 900 East. The first officers arriving found that the building’s glass front door had been “shot out”.

Keith Justin Taylor, 44, was charged in the 4th District Court on Wednesday March 3, 2021 on three charges of attempted murder, a first degree felony, and the illegal surrender of a firearm, a third degree felony. Accused of shooting a Provo police officer in Utah County Jail

Four officers then approached Taylor’s apartment while carrying a sign. His door was open.

Taylor admitted shooting out the front door believing he was being molested, according to the charges. He then allegedly told officials that he worked for the Drug Enforcement Administration and the National Security Agency.

One of the Provo officers offered Taylor his cell phone and told him he could call his alleged federal overseer. When Taylor picked up the phone, the police tried to grab him, the indictment said. Taylor managed to break free and ran back to his apartment.

“Three of the four uniformed officers followed (Taylor) into the apartment as he ran to a back bedroom. When he got to the bedroom, he took an assault rifle off the bed and turned to the officers, ”the court records say.

Taylor then began “shooting the gun as quickly as possible with the semi-automatic rifle,” the indictments say.

Officer John Oseguera was closest to Taylor and was shot in the stomach.

“The other officers took up defensive positions and returned fire. While (Taylor) was reloading, he yelled at the officers, “You’re going to die (expletive)”; “This is your last will and testament,” the investigators wrote in the indictments.

Oseguera, lying on a bathroom floor, was shot again – twice in the legs – when Taylor either shot him through the door or reached around the door and fired, the loading documents said.

Oseguera responded by firing “a whole magazine through the wall” at Taylor.

The other officers were then able to protect Oseguera, who was able to walk out of the apartment on his own but had to be admitted to emergency surgery “to remove a bullet near his spine and repair a broken leg,” it said in the charges.

After the officers’ final exchange of fire, Taylor surrendered and was taken into custody. Taylor was treated at a local hospital for injuries sustained in the shooting before he was admitted to Utah County Jail two days later.

Prosecutors have asked that Taylor remain in jail and be held without bail until the trial.

The day after the shooting, Provo police reported that Oseguera “was vigilant and in good spirits” and that his recovery “will take time”.

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