Matthew David Stewart

On Jan­u­ary 4, 2012, mem­bers of the Weber-​​Morgan [Coun­ties, Utah] Nar­cotics Strike Force attempted to arrest Matthew David Stew­art, 37, a for­mer Army sergeant and Iraq war vet­eran. Hold­ing a valid “knock and announce” war­rant, they broke down Stewart’s door in a quiet neigh­bor­hood of Ogden, Utah and a shootout ensued. Stew­art allegedly shot six police offi­cers and killed one of them, Offi­cer Jared Francom.

Accord­ing to the war­rant for Stewart’s arrest on mur­der and attempted mur­der charges that ensued, Stew­art fired on Strike Force offi­cers from a

con­cealed posi­tion at close range with a Beretta 9 mm semi-​​automatic pis­tol … Agent Gro­gan was struck in the face and went to the floor. Agent Derek Draper returned fire as he was fired upon … Agent Kasey Bur­rell [was hit] at least twice and [Stew­art] mor­tally wounded Agent Jared Fran­com who was struck six times. … Stew­art shot Sergeant Nate Hutchin­son sev­eral times as he engaged the sus­pect and helped wounded offi­cers evac­u­ate … the sus­pect also shot Agent James Van­der­warf … Stew­art advanced on offi­cers as they were try­ing to evac­u­ate … and con­tin­ued fir­ing at offi­cers as they moved away from the home … the sus­pect shot Offi­cer Roun­kles twice as he entered the home … Stew­art moved to the front door of the res­i­dence and con­tin­ued shoot­ing into the street and front yard at the already wounded agents and fel­low agents … Police returned fire caus­ing the sus­pect to retreat … and exit the north­east bed­room win­dow into the back­yard … entered a small stor­age shed.

The cause of all this car­nage? Allegedly, home-​​grown marijuana.

Stew­art was suf­fer­ing from post-​​traumatic stress dis­or­der and was attempt­ing to self-​​medicate with pot he grew him­self, his father claims. (more…)