Source: CVDaily Feed
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LOGAN — The Cache County Sheriff’s office has released the identities of both men involved in Tuesday afternoon’s deadly shooting in Hyrum.

Sheriff’s Lt. Mike Peterson said the victim is 37-year-old Robert J. Van Hemert of Hyrum. He was found lying on the floor of his home at 84 North 600 East in Hyrum by the first deputies on the scene. He had been shot and was pronounced dead.

The second man identified as the shooter is 40-year-old Aaron Smith of Provo. He was outside when deputies arrived and told them he had shot Hemert inside the home. He surrendered without incident and was detained.

Hemert and Smith were related to each other as brothers-in-law.

Peterson said investigators spent most of Tuesday night and Wednesday morning processing the scene and conducting interviews with witnesses.

“This is a large scale incident,” said Peterson. “We have obviously a person that is deceased as a result of gunfire. So we want to make sure that we are doing the most thorough investigation we can and not compromising that investigation at the same time.”

Investigators said Smith and Van Hemert were reportedly arguing over some property issues. The argument escalated and both men pulled out handguns, threatening each other.

Investigators said shots were fired and Van Hemert was hit. The number of bullets fired and how many times Van Hemert was struck is not being released yet.

Peterson said no one has been arrested and investigators are still at the home collecting evidence.

“We’ve been working hand in hand with the (Cache) County Attorney’s Office right from the beginning,” said Peterson. “We are taking direction from them and also the Medical Examiner’s Office which is also helping us out. We anticipate being able to completely turn this over to the county Attorney’s Office sometime next week.”

The home is owned by Hyrum City and was being rented by Van Hemert.


will@cvradio.com