A man who Draper police said was recently homeless survived a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head this week, an incident that rattled nerves after cities throughout the county were concerned that efforts to disrupt crime in Salt Lake City’s Rio Grande neighborhood would lead homeless residents to spread across the valley.
Draper police say the shooting, by a man who authorities say had been on the streets for one day when officers approached him and he fled, was unique in that they haven’t seen a “significant” rise in arrests or calls related to homeless residents.
Five months into the ongoing work, dubbed Operation Rio Grande, it’s hard to say whether fears of crime and problems pushed into other communities have come to pass.