10-23-2008 Utah:OGDEN, Utah — A suspected sex offender shot and killed himself inside a restroom in the lobby of the police department here.
The 71-year-old man walked into the lobby about 8:16 a.m. Tuesday, police said, and sat down on a couch. An officer manning the front desk asked if he could help him.
"The officer asked if he needed assistance or needed to make a report. He said, 'No, I just need to catch my breath for a minute,' and then he got up and went into the restroom," Assistant Ogden Police Chief Randy Watt said during a news conference in the lobby on Tuesday.
A KSL-TV photographer who had been working in the area was also going into the restroom, police said, and the man asked him to get the police. The photographer went to the front desk and by the time they returned, the man had shot himself in the head with a .38-caliber handgun, Watt said.
A note was found on the man, who was a concealed weapons permit holder, police said.
"He didn't confess to anything in the note, he just left a note actually apologizing to the police department for the bother, in his words, but that he wanted to avoid a large response by the fire department and ambulance personnel," Watt said.
The man was a suspect in a sexual assault case involving a juvenile family member, police confirmed. He has no prior arrest record or other involvement with police.
"Other than this case, no," Ogden Police detective John Thomas said Tuesday.
When police contacted the man's family, they were not surprised by the suicide. They said he had recently indicated he may take his own life and had begun settling his affairs.
The doorway leading to the public restrooms in the lobby was closed on Tuesday, with yellow crime scene tape blocking off the men's room. A pair of police officers stood sentry outside. ..News Source.. by
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