MURRAY, Utah, Nov. 26, 2016 (GephardtDaily) — A parole fugitive was arrested early Saturday morning after a tense standoff that kept police officers and SWAT negotiators out in the biting cold overnight, trying to convince the wanted man to give himself up.
Unified Police Detective Chuck Malm told Gephardt Daily that Matthew Montgomery, 28, was wanted by Adult Probation and Parole in Idaho, where he also has a warrant for drug trafficking.
UPD got involved around 10 p.m. Friday when detectives received information that Montgomery was in the city. He attempted to escape capture by hiding in a garage-type rental storage unit at 4195 S. 500 West. Officers from Murray Police Department also responded to the scene.
“A tactical team is on board and we’re putting together our plans. He’s made some statements, apparently, that he’s not going to go easily,” Malm said shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday. As the standoff dragged on, Malm said officers would rotate during the night if necessary because of the cold weather.
Noting that four tactical vehicles and two other police vans were at the scene, Malm said they were taking extra precautions in dealing with Montgomery because they had “received intel that he was armed and dangerous and unwilling to go back to prison.”
Malm said negotiators were working with Montgomery throughout the night to get him to come out of hiding. After several hours, police made entry into the unit Montgomery had first gone into and discovered that he had made his way through a wall into an adjoining unit.
“With the assistance of a Unified Fire bomb robot, we were able to safely get into the building,” Malm said. “(Montgomery) was in a bathroom at the back side of the building.”
Again using the robot, officers breached the door, and Montgomery, having nowhere to run, finally gave himself up to the police. He was taken into custody around 5 a.m.
Malm said Montgomery will be booked into jail here and then he probably will be extradited back to Idaho.
“It took a lot of time to get him,” Malm said of the lengthy standoff. “But no one was injured.”
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