When the name Siaosi Vanisi came across the teletype machine,Salt Lake County sheriff's homicide detective Bob Bobrowski thought it sounded familiar.
The notice said Reno police were trying to locate Vanisi in connection with the Tuesday ax murder of University of Nevada Police Sgt. George Daniel Sullivan, 43.Bobrowski and Sgt. Jerry Townsend did some checking and found that Vanisi had spent time in the Salt Lake County Jail. Those records led them to friends and relatives of the 27-year-old man.
"Everybody said, `Yeah, we know him but we haven't seen him for a couple of years,' " said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Jim Potter.
Police left their business cards and went back to the office.
"It wasn't more than an hour later they were calling saying, `He's here,' " Potter said.
Bobrowski and Townsend went to the Salt Lake fourplex at 1665 S. Riverside Drive (1140 West) and saw Vanisi outside.
They identified themselves as police officers, and Vanisi allegedly brandished a handgun and went back inside the apartment. The detectives called in SWAT officers from both Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County.
It was the beginning of a 3 1/2-hour ordeal that included gunfire by an officer and ended with a 3-ounce beanbag bullet.
Vanisi barricaded himself inside the apartment around 6 p.m. SWAT officers surrounded the building and evacuated nearly two dozen people from nearby houses and apartments.
"He was taunting us," Potter said, noting the man repeatedly showed himself briefly and thrust his hands in and out of his pockets.
He refused to speak with a hostage negotiator. About 9:30 he stuck his arm out the front door and appeared to point the gun in the direction of two SWAT officers in the hallway.
"We don't have any evidence yet that he actually fired the gun," Potter said, noting police are still gathering physical evidence and information from SWAT team members.
One of the officers in the hall, deputy Craig Meyers, fired one shot, hitting the gunman in the arm.
"That gave (the officers) a little time to retreat," Potter said.
During the standoff, Vanisi told police there were three children in the apartment, which Potter said was soon determined not to be true.
Vanisi also asked for a Tongan-speaking deputy, but Potter said most of the negotiations were done in English, through one of Vanisi's cousins.
SWAT team members made their move around 9:40 p.m. after discovering the apartment's garage had been set on fire. Vanisi was driven to the rear of the apartment by tear gas.
During one of Vanisi's appearances, a SWAT team member shot the beanbag gun through the back door, hitting the 270-pound Vanisi in lower stomach area.
"He kind of stood there for a second and then said, `What did you shoot me with?' " Potter said. Vanisi then collapsed and police arrested him.
According to Reno authorities, Vanisi and a cousin he was staying with told a friend they were going to kill a police officer. Vanisi recently moved to Sparks, Nev., from Los Angeles, according to police.
A search of the apartment Vanisi had been staying in turned up bloody clothing and gloves, along with a bloody hatchet, according to police.
Two Reno detectives were reported enroute to Salt Lake Thursday morning.
Potter said Vanisi was treated for the gunshot wound and then taken to the Salt Lake County Jail Wednesday night.
Meyers was placed on paid administrative leave while sheriff's officials investigate the incident, which is standard procedure when an officer fires his weapon.