SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, June 4, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — Charges have been filed against Brandon Earl McCormick, the man who allegedly threatened a crowd of protesters with a large knife, then a bow and arrow during a Saturday protest in Salt Lake City.
McCormick, 57 and a Taylorsville resident, has been charged on suspicion of:
- Two counts of possession or use of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, a third-degree felony
- Aggravated assault, a third-degree felony
- Threatening with or using a dangerous weapon in a fight or quarrel, a class A misdemeanor
A probable cause statement filed by a detective with the Salt Lake City Police Department says that on Saturday, McCormick was driving his car in the area of 415 S. 200 East “when his vehicle stopped, apparently due to traffic and the presence of individuals in the roadway who were gathered in the same area,” the statement says.
“Once the defendant’s vehicle stopped, he was observed exiting his vehicle and yelling, ‘F— you, all lives matter.’ After those expressions, the defendant obtained a large knife from his vehicle and moved toward the crowd gathered nearby while continuing to yell. In video footage of the incident, the defendant is observed brandishing the large knife at individuals around him.”
Additional video of the incident shows McCormick returning to his vehicle and retrieving a bow and arrow from the back seat, the statement says.
“He is observed loading the arrow into the bow and drawing the arrow back. He then points the bow with the arrow loaded and drawn back at several people in the crowd in a manner as if to shoot them.”
Several members of the crowd — assembled to protest the brutal killing of George Floyd, a black man, by white officers of the Minneapolis Police Department — then tackled McCormick and disarmed him.
Police officers grabbed McCormick, whose face was bloodied, and put him behind their wall of riot shields before retreating.
A few crowd members then flipped McCormick’s car and set it ablaze. It was the second car to be flipped and burned Saturday night, the first being a SLCPD patrol car.
Talking to a live news camera on Saturday night, McCormick said the crowd had suddenly attacked him after he said “All lives matter.”
McCormick was booked into Salt Lake County Jail Thursday evening.
