Chilling footage from a doorbell camera released this week shows the moment a man gunned down his brother at his Utah residence before being killed in a shootout with police.
Jeffrey Roberts, 66, of Long Beach, Calif., is seen in the video released Thursday pulling into his brother’s North Ogden driveway and approaching the front door shortly after 7 p.m. on April 27, the Weber County Attorney’s Office said.
Police say Scott Roberts and his wife, Jodi, were eating dinner alone when Jeffrey arrived. Scott answers the front door – though he cannot be seen in the video – and the two men are seen chatting briefly before Jeffrey removes a handgun from his sweatshirt and fires five shots.
While the video focuses on the empty front stoop, several more shots and shouting can be heard after Jeffrey forcibly enters the home. Intermittent footage shows him leaving the house and then returning, breathing heavily, with a shotgun and a bag.
Scott was killed at the scene, and Jodi Roberts was injured.
The video released on Thursday also includes a distressed 911 call from Scott and Jodi’s neighbor, who reports hearing gunshots nearby.
The notes released with the clips note that Jeffrey used road flares to start a fire in the house. Fire alarms are heard in some of the later footage.
‘Preliminary investigation shows that Jeffrey Roberts began to fire on police as they arrived on the scene. This was not captured by the doorbell camera,” a text slide in the video reads.
Three officers returned fire, the official statement read. Bodycam footage from one of the first responders shows Jeffery collapsing down the front steps after he was fatally struck by police bullets.
A clip from the perspective of the doorbell camera also shows what police say are bullet holes in the porch column from Jeffrey’s return fire.
Orange flames are visible through a first-floor window as police approach the residence.
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Subsequent investigation at the scene revealed that Jeffrey was armed with a 9mm handgun and 23 fully loaded magazines, 19 of which are pictured as evidence.
He was also found with a 12-gauge shotgun and over 150 shells on his person.
Aerial photographs of Scott and Jodi Roberts’ home shows extensive fire damage to the room, in addition to bullet impacts on a neighbor’s garage door across the street.
Although Jeffrey’s motive remains unclear, Scott and Jodi’s daughter, Kelsey Turner, hinted at a family rift in a GoFundMe established to support her mother’s recovery.
“My dad’s estranged brother showed up at my parents’ house, killed my dad, and set the house on fire,” she wrote.
“My mom is alive because my dad fought my uncle and told my mom to run. Knowing that my dad died a hero is bringing us a small bit of comfort.”
In an emotional Facebook post, the couple’s niece also said that the family’s two dogs were killed in the fire.
“A gentler, kinder soul you will never find,” a classmate from Robert A. Millikan High School in Long Beach wrote of Scott.
“He married the love of his life and adopted her 3 young daughters. He raised them as his own. Truly a good man.”
A vigil to support the family is set for 6 pm local time on Saturday.
