METH 'EPIDEMIC' IS UTAH'S NO. 1 CRIME PRIORITY, AG SAYS

For more than a decade, Roosevelt Police Chief Cecil Gurr had a mission to
rid his hometown of a chemical scourge marring rural northeastern Utah.

On Friday, the veteran lawman died from violence probably spurred by the
drug he battled, police say, when Gurr was shot, allegedly by a prison
parolee who may have been high on methamphetamine.

Gurr's death was a "tragic irony," said Utah Attorney General Mark
Shurtleff. "Meth was one of his major concerns."

Because the drug is relatively easy to produce, highly addictive and
produces violent reactions in users, Shurtleff says, battling meth is
Utah's No. 1 crime-prevention priority.

He is especially concerned because meth is as "epidemic" in rural parts of
the state as in Utah's metropolitan areas, Shurtleff said.

Lee Roy Wood, suspected of killing Gurr in the parking lot of a
Roosevelt-area convenience store after a domestic dispute, was upset
because a woman's drug run to Salt Lake County yielded too little meth,
according to initial police reports.

Wood, 35, allegedly opened fire with an SKS assault rifle and shot Gurr in
the head. As the police chief lay dying on the asphalt, Wood put the gun to
the woman's head and ordered her to drive, police say.

He was arrested less than a mile away by pursuing officers.

On Tuesday, just hours after Gurr's funeral, Wood was charged with one
count of capital murder, which means he could face the death penalty. He
also was charged with three counts of attempted murder and one count of
kidnapping.

Investigators from the Uintah County Sheriff's Office, which is handling
the investigation, say they will wait for a toxicology analysis of Wood's
blood before determining whether his violent behavior was connected to meth
use.

A founding member of the three-county Uintah Basin Narcotics Strike Force
in 1988, Gurr witnessed firsthand what Shurtleff calls the "violent,
unpredictable behavior" meth produces in users.