SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, June 21, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — Police have released more details after a female suspect in her 30s was shot during a “takeover-style” robbery in Salt Lake City Tuesday evening.
Police are searching for a suspect named Cody Shane Durrant, 36, from Kearns, Salt Lake City Police Department spokesman Detective Greg Wilking said in a news conference Wednesday morning. Durrant is possibly driving a red Nissan Versa, license plate X39 8AM. The second suspect is described as a Hispanic man, between 30 and 40 years old, with short hair. Police also have the name of the injured female suspect but are not releasing it at this time.
Dispatch received reports of an armed robbery at the Quizno’s sandwich shop at 1775 S. 4130 West minutes after 6:05 p.m., Lt. Justin Hudson with the Salt Lake City Police Department told Gephardt Daily.
“When officers arrived, we were also told there were shots fired,” Hudson said. “Once we got into the scene we noticed that one female was shot.
The woman was transported by ambulance to a local hospital in critical condition. Subsequent reports indicate she was shot in the neck and suffering paralysis. Her condition was upgraded to serious Wednesday.
“There were also two males reported in the area inside the store with a gun at that time,” Hudson said. “They came in under the ruse of possible customers and it escalated from there.”
“There were no customers inside the business when this occurred,” Hudson added. “A customer came in shortly after and assisted the person who was injured, but there were no witnesses other than the employees.”
On Wednesday morning, police released more details during a press conference.
Wilking said the three suspects, the two males and the female who was shot, entered the business in what he called a “takeover-type robbery,” locking the door behind them.
There were two employees in the store, one at the front counter and one toward the back, Wilking said.
“Two guns were produced by the suspects,” Wilking said. “Two suspects tried to enter the back room of the Quizno’s, an employee in that back room was barricading the door, preventing them from coming in, then produced a weapon and fired shots. The female suspect was struck, and she was left behind at the scene by the other two suspects, who fled.”
Wilking said the employee, who shot around the door at the suspect, was carrying the weapon with her.
The suspects did not fire any shots in the course of the incident, but did leave the store with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Wilking said of the takeover-style robbery: “We don’t see many of these, it was a very scary situation. This is an extreme type of robbery, you’re looking at a situation where they’re locking the door, they’re forcing their way into the back room, it’s much different than somebody just producing a note or a gun or a knife. A takeover robbery is much more dangerous for everybody involved.”
He said it’s too early to tell whether the suspects are connected with any other robberies in the area recently.
He added that between two and six shots were fired, and the injured suspect was hit once.
Gephardt Daily will have more on this developing story as information becomes available.
