TAYLORSVILLE, Utah, April 18, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Unified Police officials have identified the man arrested after allegedly shooting at police during a SWAT standoff in Taylorsville.
“The name of the suspect from yesterday’s SWAT incident is Ben M. Williams, Jr. age 43, of Taylorsville,” the UPD statement says. “He has been booked into the Salt Lake County jail on multiple felony charges.”
Williams, Jr., was booked early Sunday on suspicion of:
- Murder (likely to be amended to aggravated attempted murder), a first-degree felony
- Assault against a peace officer/military with weapon or force, a second-degree felony
- Felony discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony
- Purchase, transfer, possession or use of a firearm by a restricted person, a third-degree felony
- Aggravated abuse of a vulnerable adult, a class A misdemeanor
A probable cause statement filed in Williams’ case says UPD Dispatch received a domestic disturbance call from William’s 76-year-old father. The detective who filed the statement wrote that police were notified Williams’s father and his wife had been assaulted by their son, Williams.
“Both victims … had visible injuries (black eyes),” the statement says.
The parents left the house, “and police arrived shortly after to investigate the domestic violence,” the statement says. “Ben Jr. refused contact with police and barricaded himself in the home with multiple firearms.
“UPD negotiators attempted an exit strategy with Ben Jr., and he refused to put weapons away and exit the home. The UPD SWAT team was called to the location. UPD SWAT Sgt. Dan Child informed me that the suspect (Ben Jr) shot at different UPD officers. Sgt. Child stated that as they pulled into the driveway of the said residence with their Bearcat (UPD armored SWAT vehicle), the suspect (Ben Jr.) shot at them hitting the Bearcat multiple times.”
Multiple SWAT team members were inside the vehicle at it was shot by the suspect, the statement says.
“After inspecting the vehicle, I saw that multiple shots into the vehicle were in the front windshield aimed directly at the driver of the vehicle. The bullet proof glass prevented the SWAT members from getting hit by the array of bullets or even from dying.”
After several hours, Williams “was safely taken into custody,” the statement says. “Several neighboring homes were hit by suspect’s bullets as wells. Post Miranda the suspect admitted to shooting at the Police because he said that ‘he was not having it.’
“Ben, Jr., has an active warrant, cruelty toward elderly, out of Lehi PD. He had prior history of an aggravated assault in 2011 and Aggravated Assault with a knife in 2003. Ben, Jr., is a convicted felon as well.”
Williams is being held without bail.
