SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah, June 14, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — A father faces a felony charge for allegedly shooting his step-daughter with a paintball gun for knocking over some air filters in a shed and denying it.
Brandon Lewis Clark, 31, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail early Thursday morning on suspicion of second-degree felony aggravated child abuse.
The investigation began when the 9-year-old girl’s biological father picked her up from the step-dad’s home in Magna Wednesday evening crying with a bruise the size of a baseball on her upper left thigh, according to charging documents.
The father then contacted South Salt Lake police.
Post-Miranda, Clark told police “he has been escalating his punishments for the kids,” according to his probable cause affidavit. His wife said he told her he bought the paintball gun specifically to punish the children, the statement alleges.
Clark said he had gathered all the children in the backyard to question them about air filters that had been knocked over in a shed, his suspicions settling on the 9-year-old.
He said he became more upset as the girl kept saying ‘I don’t know” and he “grabbed the paint gun and continued to get angry at his step-daughter,” the affidavit said, and shot her once.
“Brandon at various times during the conversation (with police) said something to the effect of ‘I might have gone too far,'” according to the affidavit.
“Brandon said he has been hit by a paintball gun before and knows that it hurts and causes bruising.”
