A Lakeport, Calif., man was shot and killed early Friday after shooting and wounding two Salt Lake City Police officers in the city's downtown following a traffic stop.
Christopher Leo Knight, 34, was killed in the confrontation, the Salt Lake City Police Department reported.
Salt Lake City Police Det. Cody Lougy told Lake County News that an officer observed a suspicious vehicle in the area of 300 S. West Temple at approximately 2:16 a.m. Friday.
The agency, said Lougy, has one-man police units, so a second officer was called for backup, and arrived to assist with questioning the two occupants, including Knight, who was the vehicle's passenger.
Lougy said the officers wanted to question Knight further. “They felt he was giving some misleading statements.”
They had Knight get out of the vehicle, at which point he opened fire, Lougy said, adding he did not yet have information on the weapon Knight used.
The two patrol officers – Mo Tafisi, 40, and Dan Tueller, 33 – returned fire and killed Knight at the scene, Lougy said.
Tafisi, a nine-year veterans with Salt Lake City Police, was shot in the arm and released from the hospital Friday afternoon, according to Lougy.
Tueller, who had been with the department just 18 months, was hit in the thigh. Lougy said Tueller remained in the hospital and was in stable condition after undergoing surgery.
Lougy said he did not know if Knight had previous contacts with the 410-officer department.
“It is still a very active investigation,” with authorities developing more information, he said.
He said multiple agencies are involved in investigating the shooting, including the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office, the Utah State Office of the Medical Examiner, the Salt Lake City Police Homicide Unit and a civilian review board.
Knight, who was born in Napa, is the stepbrother of Jonathan Mota, the Kelseyville man who remains in federal custody and is facing trial later this year for the January 2013 murder of Forrest Seagrave.
Knight was sentenced to state prison in November 1998 for a possession of a controlled substance case in Butte County and an assault with a deadly weapon case in San Joaquin County, according to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation records.
State records showed he was paroled in November 2006 but had parole violations, including an April 2007 arrest by the Clearlake Police Department for resisting or obstructing a peace officer and fighting in a public place.
State records indicated he returned to prison twice – in May 2007 and October 2008 – due to his parole violations.
He was remanded to the county for post-release community supervision in October 2012, according to state correctional records.
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