SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Oct. 28, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Three men have been arrested following an alleged kidnapping and robbery that led to a SWAT standoff Thursday night in Salt Lake City’s Poplar Grove neighborhood.
Shawn David Cook, 25, Jerry Jermaine Hunter, 42, and Manyal Dak Jock, 32, were arrested early Friday for investigation of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated burglary, both first-degree felonies, after police say they held a female hostage and pointed a gun at her head during a robbery.
Salt Lake City police were contacted Thursday by a woman who said her daughter had been kidnapped from a home at 948 W. 300 South, according to a probable cause statement filed in 3rd District Court.
It’s unknown whether the kidnapping victim is a juvenile, as the daughter’s age is not included in court documents and police Saturday declined to provide any additional information.
“Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, we will not be releasing any more details other than what is in the probable cause affidavit,” SLCPD said in an email to Gephardt Daily.
The woman told police she had “taken stuff” from the house “one to two days prior and now her daughter was being held hostage at the house by multiple people,” the affidavit says.
Police say the daughter had gone to the home looking for her mother. When she went inside, she was led by “multiple individuals to a room in the back of the residence,” where she was asked about her mother’s location.
“[The daughter] stated multiple individuals were holding her against her will in the room, saying we’re not playing games, we [mean] business and telling [her] she cannot go anywhere until she gets her mom … on the phone and she comes to the house,” arrest documents say.
At one point during the kidnapping, Jock pointed a gun at the daughter’s head, according to police.
Police say the girl was able to get away and went to a friend’s house on Gillespie Avenue. The same men then showed up that that house with firearms and kicked in the door, the police affidavit says. The men wore facial coverings, police said, but the daughter recognized them as the same men who had been holding her hostage.
There were several people at the home on Gillespie Avenue, and the men took “everyone’s drugs, money, wallets and cellphones,” arrest documents say.
Police later located the daughter at the home Gillespie Avenue.
Officers served a search warrant on the home on 300 South and recovered “multiple firearms,” the police affidavit says.
Police began watching the home about 7:30 p.m., and a SWAT team and armored vehicle were deployed to take the men into custody.
The affidavit did not include any other information about the arrest.
Gephardt Daily will update this story as more information becomes available.
