Family of alleged shooter reacts to Ogden shooting


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Updated: 1/05/2012 5:27 pm | Published: 1/05/2012 12:32 pm
Reported by: Marcos Ortiz
OGDEN, Utah (ABC 4 News) - The father of the man who allegedly shot six police officers talked to ABC 4 News.

The Weber-Morgan Narcotics Strike Force was serving a warrant at the house of Matthew David Stewart at 3268 Jackson Avenue in Ogden.

A firefight broke out and six officers were shot in the ensuing battle.  One officer, Agent Jared Francom of the Ogden City Police Department, died from his injuries.  Five other police officers from the strike force are currently being treated for their injuries.

Matthew David Stewart was apprehended at the scene and is currently being treated for non-life threatening injuries under police guard.

Michael Stewart, the father of Matthew, spoke to ABC 4's Marco's Ortiz on behalf of the family.  He said, "Our hearts go out to the families of the injured officers. We're praying for their families, we pray for the man who lost his life during the exchange. We're in a state of shock, we're very sorry that this has happened."

Michael Stewart continued, "He is a decorated Gulf War Veteran from the first Gulf War. I didn't know what he did over there. I know he's had some mental issues, he's self medicated. That's all I know. We tried to reach out to him but he's estranged from us."

Stay with ABC 4 and ABC4.com for more on this developing story.
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judgemencu - 2/9/2012 8:07 PM
0 Votes
Kuddos to the family of Mathew Stewart, for sticking by his side through all this. More family's should hold these type of values. More people should stop and evauluate the situation. Ask your self, Right?, or Wrong?. Where does your oppinions come from? common sense,? or what society's views are?

donjj - 1/15/2012 12:30 AM
0 Votes
Ever since this shooting took place in Ogden I have noticed that you have shown this fellow, Matthew David Stewart, in uniform. He served 4 years in the 90's. He is a disgrace to the uniform. Millions of young men have served in the military and 99% have not choosen to start a pot farm and shoot down policeman in cold blood. Now you parade him on TV like he is some special connection to the Military. He choose his path after he left the military over 13 years ago and it does not reflect any of the values that the military aspires too. Show some dam respect for the military uniform and what it means to so many people.

thugbuster - 1/8/2012 4:56 PM
0 Votes
This is a very tragic event with the loss of a life. I don't understand the importance of entering a citizens home on the tip information, he may be smoking and possibly selling marijuana. Does the Blair shooting last year, remind anyone of anything ? I think the Judge and Chief should be accountable at some level,with the aftermath of last years shooting involving the same strike force. This was not a hostage situation, or a reason enough to use this type of force. This loss of life was avoidable, starting at the top.

malcolmkyle - 1/6/2012 10:58 AM
1 Vote
Yet another law enforcement officer dies while attempting to uphold a failed public policy that has triggered the worst crime wave in history. Yet another law enforcement officer dies while attempting to prevent a citizen of this 'once proud and free' nation from choosing to self-medicate with one of God's most amazing plants. Yet another law enforcement officer dies in order that unconscionable Transnational Corporations, and their Media Enablers, can continue to abuse, addict and poison us for obscene profits. According to the CATO Institute, ending prohibition would save roughly $41 billion of expenditure while generating an estimated $46 billion in tax revenues. Prohibition has helped fill our Prisons and Jails to capacity. Violent criminals, murderers, rapists and child molesters are released early to create space for so called 'drug offenders'. Half of court trial time and also a huge chunk of police officers time is pointlessly wasted. Enormous untaxed profits from illegal drugs fund multi-national criminal empires which bribe law enforcement authorities and spread corruption faster than a raging bush fire. Prohibition takes violent criminals and turns them into multi-billionaires whilst corrupting even entire countries, including our own. Our drug laws are also funding the Taliban and al-Qaeda whose illegal opium profits allow them to buy weapons and pay it's fighters more than $300 a month, compared with the $14 paid to an Afghan policemen. Maybe many of the early Prohibitionists did not really intend to kill hundreds of thousands worldwide, or put 1 in every 30 American adults under supervision of the correctional system. But similar to our "Great Experiment" of the 1920s, the prohibition of various other drugs has once again spawned rampant off-the-scale criminality & corruption, a bust economy, mass unemployment, a mind-boggling incarceration rate and a civil war in Mexico.

malcolmkyle - 1/6/2012 10:57 AM
1 Vote
Yet another law enforcement officer dies while attempting to uphold a failed public policy that has triggered the worst crime wave in history. Yet another law enforcement officer dies while attempting to prevent a citizen of this 'once proud and free' nation from choosing to self-medicate with one of God's most amazing plants. Yet another law enforcement officer dies in order that unconscionable Transnational Corporations, and their Media Enablers, can continue to abuse, addict and poison us for obscene profits. According to the CATO Institute, ending prohibition would save roughly $41 billion of expenditure while generating an estimated $46 billion in tax revenues. Prohibition has helped fill our Prisons and Jails to capacity. Violent criminals, murderers, rapists and child molesters are released early to create space for so called 'drug offenders'. Half of court trial time and also a huge chunk of police officers time is pointlessly wasted. Enormous untaxed profits from illegal drugs fund multi-national criminal empires which bribe law enforcement authorities and spread corruption faster than a raging bush fire. Prohibition takes violent criminals and turns them into multi-billionaires whilst corrupting even entire countries, including our own. Our drug laws are also funding the Taliban and al-Qaeda whose illegal opium profits allow them to buy weapons and pay it's fighters more than $300 a month, compared with the $14 paid to an Afghan policemen. Maybe many of the early Prohibitionists did not really intend to kill hundreds of thousands worldwide, or put 1 in every 30 American adults under supervision of the correctional system. But similar to our "Great Experiment" of the 1920s, the prohibition of various other drugs has once again spawned rampant off-the-scale criminality & corruption, a bust economy, mass unemployment, a mind-boggling incarceration rate and a civil war in Mexico.

confused - 1/5/2012 6:17 PM
0 Votes
I see that our Attorney General is broken up by this shooting. That's understandable, but isn't he for everyone bearing arms, regardless of how that plays out in a confrontation? I'm confused....

Nooz Kriddick - 1/5/2012 1:31 PM
0 Votes
Actually, he didn't talk to YOU. He was talking to a better reporter, through the door and off camera, when you ambush them and recorded the conversation without the fathers consent. You give reporters a bad name in the state.
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