SOUTH JORDAN, Utah, July 24, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — A South Jordan man is being held without bail after a SWAT response to his home led to the filing of 26 charges against him, including 23 felonies.
Ryan McManigal, 42 and booked into the Salt Lake County jail system, faces charges of:
- Nineteen counts of aggravated assault of a targeting law enforcement with bodily injury, a first-degree felony
- Two counts of possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, a third-degree felony
- Criminal mischief, loss of $1,500-$5,000, a third-degree felony
- Felony discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony
- Two counts of violation of a protective order, a class A misdemeanor
- Possession of a deadly weapon with intent to assault, a class A misdemeanor
The investigation leading to the Thursday night response began the previous week when a fast food business on South Jordan Parkway reported threats allegedly made by McManigal by texts.
The business owner said McManigal was upset at the business, and had been saying the business was harassing him, “and harassment is the reason mass shootings occur,” McManigal’s text read, the probable cause statement says. “Ryan asked the business owner in the text messages how he would feel if Ryan entered the business and mowed down customers and staff.”
McManigal also posted on social media, the statement says.
Soon after, witnesses reported seeing McManigal walking around the neighborhood, carrying an AR type weapon. Neighbors also reported hearing gunshots.
“After the time these shots fired were reported, Ryan made a comment on Facebook that he had shot out a street light,” the probable cause statement says. “An area check in the area of 10365 S. River Height Drive a Street Light was found to be broken.”
Just after 4 a.m. Friday, Lt. Matt Pennington, South Jordan Police Department, shared details with reporters near the scene of the incident.
“Our investigative team started monitoring some of his stuff and we realized he’s a pretty dangerous guy, so we did some additional investigation over the next several days,” Pennington said. “That culminated tonight with us coming out here with a search warrant for his residence to retrieve some weapons from him that he’s not supposed to have” as a restricted person.
SWAT teams were called in to the area of the 3300 west block of Snow Moon Place, where McManigal lives. They had a warrant to search his house.
“When negotiations started with him, he immediately became confrontational,” Pennington told reporters who were kept a safe distance from the scene.
“Right after negotiations start, he shuts down negotiations and starts ringing off shots,” Pennington said. “Luckily, we had an idea that that may be the case coming in and so we had a very solid plan, and with a lot of armor and resources from our neighboring agencies, and thank heavens no officers injured tonight, and that guy wasn’t injured either. He ends up giving up, we take him into custody, safely.”
Post Miranda, McManigal told officers why he stopped shooting, the probable cause statement says.
“Ryan admitted to shooting his gun towards police until his gun jammed, so he surrendered.”
Pennington said HAZMAT teams were brought in to process the residence. As of late Friday morning, more than a dozen houses and several businesses were still under evacuation orders as the HAZMAT investigation continued.
Pennington said Friday morning that the decision to serve the warrant with the assistance of armor-protected officers and vehicles was made after officials learned of his arsenal of weapons.
“… we decided it’s time to go deal with this guy and make sure he doesn’t have the means to carry any of this out. Seems like he definitely had the means.”
