WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, Dec. 17, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — A West Valley City man was booked into jail Sunday morning after police say he threatened his apartment neighbors with a hammer over a noise complaint.
Michael David Byrd, 49, was taken into custody at 3:05 a.m. after a SWAT response to the Redwood Apartments.
Sgt. Andrew Steinbrecher, West Valley City police, told Gephardt Daily the incident started with “arguments over their neighbors being loud through the walls…. And there’s a confrontation and someone holds onto the hammer and threatens its use or (to) harm the other party, and can’t actually get in with it, but threatens its use.”
Officers responded and identified Byrd as someone with warrants, Steinbrecher said. They attempted to contact Byrd, but “he did not answer.”
A search warrant was issued and SWAT crews breached the door, “making contact within there, and he was compliant and put into custody.”
The original call was dispatched at 10:39 a.m. Saturday, Steinbrecher said.
“We were out there for a good four hours,” he said, adding that some neighbors sheltered in place, and the targeted neighbors sat in their car for their safety, and returned to their apartment after Byrd was in custody.
Byrd’s affidavit said “the current offense is a felony committed while on probation or parole, or while free on bail awaiting trial on a previous felony charge. There is substantial evidence to support the felony charge.”
It also called him an “AP&P fugitive. On probation for violent domestic violent offenses,” adding he has “a significant history of violence in multiple states.”
Byrd was arrested for investigation of:
- Aggravated assault, a third-degree felony
- Threat/use of dangerous weapon in fight, a class A misdemeanor
- Threat of violence, a class B misdemeanor
He was ordered held without bail in the Salt Lake County jail system.
