SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Sept. 2, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — A dust up between a driver and three bicyclists Friday morning led to a road-rage exchange and shots fired in Salt Lake City.
Lt. Dave Cracroft, Salt Lake City Police Department, said a neighbor alerted law enforcement to shots fired at 2:14 a.m. Friday in the neighborhood of 12th West and 200 South.
“We got here and we found three guys that were hiding in some trees off the side of the road,” Cracroft told Gephardt Daily. “They said a security guard had been shooting at them.”
Cracroft said a security guard had been driving west on 200 South and had bumped into one of three male bicyclists traveling the same road, ” … not hard, but hard enough to knock them (him) off the bike.
“Those three individuals got angry with the security officer, had a piece of pipe, and they were pounding on the car, and pounding the bike on the car,” Cracroft said. “So the security officer backed up and tried to get farther away from them, and they chased him, said they had a gun, and kept pounding on the car.”
No gun was found on the bicyclists or in the area in the subsequent search, Cracroft said, adding that the security guard had no way of knowing that, and “was scared to death.”
“So when they said they had a gun, the security guard thought they were shooting at him when they were pounding on the car, so he fired two rounds, maybe three, from his pistol as he’s trying to flee the area,” Cracroft said.
Two casings were found in the security guard’s car, and one was located on the roadway, Cracroft said. No one was injured, and officers could not find where the bullets had hit.
Officers called officials from CBI Security to the scene and conducted interviews with all involved. The bicyclists had been drinking and were angry, Cracroft said.
“We’re going to be screening charges, if any, through the District Attorney’s office,” he said.
