DRAPER, Utah, Dec. 14, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — A Draper man is facing nine felony charges after his mother in Florida called Draper police to report he was holding his family hostage.
The 32-year-old man faces the following charges, all third-degree felonies:
- Three counts of aggravated kidnapping in the course of committing unlawful detention
- Three counts of aggravated assault
- Three counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child
On Monday, Draper Police officers were dispatched on a call of a domestic in progress with a weapon, the suspect’s probable cause statement says. The suspect’s mother had called dispatched from Florida and said it was possible her son was armed.
The suspect’s mother gave officers the number to reach her son’s wife inside the residence. The wife told officers the suspect was outside the residence, trying to get in, and had a gun in the waistband of his pants, and had threatened to kill her, the man’s probable cause statement says.
Officers arrived and, after issuing several commands, were able to take the suspect into custody.
Officers contacted the adult female victim at the front door.
“She stated he pointed the gun at her, and told her he was going to cap her. She stated he was waving the gun all around, and pointing it at her, and telling her she
couldn’t leave the room or she will be dead.”
The woman said her husband had been holding her and their two children, ages 7 and 5, since about 4 that morning. She said the children “were in the room when he was waving the gun around. When officers entered the residence (the 5 year old) stated he saw his dad with a gun.”
The firearm was later found to be in the suspect’s truck.
In an interview with police, the suspect “admitted to taking his gun with his family to keep them safe, he admitted to taking the gun in his mother’s houses with two full clips, he admitted he showed (his wife) the gun and told her this was the gun that was going to kill her, and he admitted to putting the gun in his truck because he knew the police were coming,” the probable cause statement says.
At that point, his wife got the opportunity to lock the suspect out of the house, and took it.
The suspect was booked into the Salt Lake County jail, where he is being held without bail.
