WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, May 5, 2025 (Gephardt Daily) — A 35-year-old woman has been jailed after she allegedly assaulted a 5-year-old child, and then tried to disarm an arresting officer.
Petrice Shirley Marie Gustafson was arrested Saturday for investigation of :
- Disarming a police officer, firearm, a first-degree felony
- Aggravated child abuse, intentional or knowingly, a second-degree felony
- Burglary of a dwelling, a second-degree felony
West Valley City police were sent to the scene early Saturday morning after witnesses reported a young child in the area of 3100 S. 6400 West walking around with “blood on his face and soaked with water.”
Witnesses stated that Petrice Gustafson (08/10/1989) was also in the area looking for the child and was overheard stating she had just tried to kill the child, a news release from the West Valley City Police Department says.
According to a WVCPD officer’s statement contained in court documents, the child told witnesses that Gustafson had hit them with a statue and attempted to drown them.
“Witnesses and officers observed multiple deep lacerations and bruises on the victim child. The child had trouble moving and talking after the incident,” the probable cause statement said.
Court document say witnesses were with the child when Gustafson allegedly “went back into her home, undressed fully, and went back outside.”
She’s then alleged to have “unlawfully entered a neighbor’s home, exposing herself to a juvenile in the home, and assaulting another party in the home.”
Gustafson was taken into custody by police at about 10:30 a.m.
After the incident. the child told a guardian that Gustafson would not let them leave during the incident, and so they had to escape through a backdoor, the affidavit says.
Court documents say while in police custody, Gustafson “attempted to take the holstered firearm of a police officer, by reaching for it and touching it twice while saying, “You’re going to have to kill me and give me your gun. You’re going to have to kill me.”
Officers say they also discovered video capturing Gustafson striking the child.
“A search of the home found a large amount of blood on multiple levels, as well as a broken statue and a bathtub full of water. The bathtub was covered in blood,” the probable cause statement says.
The child was taken to the hospital to treat cuts to their head and has since been released, according to the WVCPD news release.
