DRAPER — A man was charged Tuesday with shooting at a Draper police officer after already firing rounds at his own car while his son hid underneath it.
Richard Grant Lees, 49, of Draper, is charged in 3rd District Court with assault against a police officer, a second-degree felony, and five counts of illegal discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony. Prosecutors have requested that Lees be held in the Salt Lake County Jail without bail.
On Aug. 23, Lees’ 9-year-old son called 911 while hiding underneath a car in his garage, according to charging documents, Emergency dispatchers could hear shots being fired while he was on the phone.
When Draper police officer Richard Barlow arrived, he said he found Lees outside waving him toward a neighbor’s house. The officer quickly realized there was no unusual activity happening at the neighbor’s house. When he returned to Lees’ residence, he found him standing in the driveway holding an AR-15, the charges state.
Barlow ordered Lees to drop the weapon. Instead, Lees turned and the officer “saw a bright blast exit the muzzle,” according to charging documents.
“Officer Barlow took cover in a nearby bush and continued to order Lees to drop the weapon,” the charges say.
Lees eventually complied and surrendered without further incident.
“Lees was extremely sweaty and appeared to be under the influence of narcotics,” the officer noted in the charges.
Police interviewed Lees’ son the next day. He told detectives that throughout that morning, his father “kept saying that somebody was in the window saying he was going to kill them. He described Lees hallucinating throughout the day and believing plants were people,” the charges state.
Later that evening, the boy said his father was holding an AR-15 and claiming people were in the house and told his son to hide under a car in the garage. But while he was hiding, Lees shot out one of the car windows and the shattered glass nearly cut the boy, according to charging documents.
Investigators discovered two other shots had gone through a neighbor’s garage door and the stucco surrounding the garage, and both had hit the neighbor’s car, the charges state.
Inside the Lees’ house, detectives reported finding an additional seven firearms, and discovered the AR-15 he was allegedly using had a 30-round magazine in it.
Prosecutors have requested the man be held without bail due to his history of methamphetamine abuse leading to hallucinations, and alcohol abuse, according to charging documents. Before police responded to the shooting, officers were at Lees’ house earlier in the day after they say he made a baseless claim that his neighbor was trying to kill him.