The Salt Lake County Jail on Tuesday erroneously released a man accused of firing a gun at a police officer Saturday.
The 33-year-old Central City man was booked into jail for investigation of attempted criminal homicide after a shot was fired at a Salt Lake police officer early Saturday."We released him to the care and custody of the Salt Lake County Jail, but he's not there now," said Lt. Scott Folsom.
The booking officer made a mistake, Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Grant English said. A warrant came down to the jail Tuesday charging the man with a reduced crime of aggravated assault. The booking officer released him because he misread the paperwork, English said.
Kalupano Mokofisi did not know he was not supposed to be released, according to English. Deputy sheriffs and Salt Lake police officers continued to look for him Wednesday.
When he was booked into jail, however, he was listed as a transient and gave no address. Police had listed a Central City address for him.
Four officers responded to a "man with a gun" call at 2:30 a.m. Saturday. Three officers entered the hallway of an apartment building at 752 N. 900 West. One of the officers peeked around a corner when a man sitting on the floor in the hall pointed a .25 semiautomatic at him and fired. The bullet missed the officer and hit a door frame.
Two other officers pounded on an outside window of an apartment close to where the man was sitting. When occupants answered their knocks, the officers helped the family out of the apartment through the window and then they crawled in, Folsom said.
They cracked the door into the hallway and saw the man trying to correct a malfunction of his weapon. When he spotted them they burst through the door and tackled the man. Officers indicated the man may have been under the influence of marijuana.