TAYLORSVILLE — A gun-toting trio was apprehended in a public display of police restraint and force Thursday after some 20 officers surrounded two wanted men and a female companion near a Taylorsville Wal-Mart.
About 2:30 p.m. FBI officers followed two armed men, wanted on outstanding felony warrants, to a strip mall near 5600 South and Redwood Road. The two men, along with the female, noticed two Salt Lake County sheriff's deputies at a convenience store in the strip mall parking lot. Unaware they were being watched by the FBI, the threesome steered clear of the deputies and entered a Home Base hardware store, 5585 S. Redwood Road.
At the same time, a witness entered the convenience store and told the deputies a man with a shotgun had just entered the Home Base. The deputies then got a call from the undercover FBI agents to assist in making an arrest of the apparently armed and dangerous suspects. By the time the trio walked out of the hardware store, more than 20 sheriff's deputies and FBI agents were waiting with guns drawn.
Officers repeatedly yelled for the threesome to stop, but the group ignored the SWAT-like team of officers and nonchalantly walked toward a nearby Wal-Mart.
"It was absolutely unbelievable how non-compliant these guys were," Salt Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Kevin Matthews said. "They weren't compliant at all to the 20-some guns that were pointed at them."
As the group neared the Wal-Mart, Matthews decided he wasn't going to let them enter the crowed department store. He ordered deputies to take down the group with physical force. The mass of officers took the woman and one man into custody just in front of the Wal-Mart doors.
The third suspect wriggled free and dashed into the store. Three deputies, Greg Pollei, Scott Crawford and Chris McInnes, chased the armed man through the a maze of Wal-Mart displays, bewildered customers and clothing racks before eventually taking him down as his 9 mm handgun flew across the department store floor.
"They really did a good job of apprehending the suspect without using their firearms," Matthews said.
In fact, all involved maintained cool heads in a situation that Matthews said could have easily turned into a public bloodbath if any officer became nervous and shot during the bizarre standoff and brief foot chase.
The two men were booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on outstanding warrants and may face numerous new charges including possession of a firearm by a restricted person, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. It is not known if the female will be charged or arrested, Matthews said.