Spring man arrested on gun and drug charges after shooting perceived “people” with AR-15 in his mother’s loft crawl space

Uintah County Sheriff’s office vehicle. Photo: UCSO

VERNAL, Utah, December 11, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) – A 58-year-old man from Vernal was charged with firearms and drug charges after MPs said his mother called to report he shot people multiple times live in their crawl space.

Uintah County Sheriff’s officers arrived at the residence in Area 600 West and Area 500 North to investigate and found several bullet holes in the walls and ceiling, but no evidence of anyone in the sealed crawl space.

The suspect is now charged:

• Firearm felony, a third degree crime
• Reckless endangerment, a class A offense
• Possession or use of a controlled substance, a Class B offense
• Use or possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class B offense

Arriving MPs asked mother and son to bring the apartment with them without weapons, according to the man’s likely explanation of the cause.

The UCSO representative wrote that he had asked the suspect to explain what happened and he “told me he could hear and see people in the crawl space. (He) told me that he had a camera in the crawl space area that he can see from his phone. It should be noted that this crawl space is actually on the upper floor of the residence.

The suspect said, “He used his pistol and fired a couple of shots through the wall into the crawl space area,” added he “only had four rounds in his handgun, so he grabbed his AR-15 rifle and fired about six Shot through the wall “. on the upper floor of the house. “

The rapporteur noted that in the past, deputies had been called into the apartment under similar circumstances.

The suspect and his mother “both said there were injured people in the attic where (the suspect) had just shot. (The son) was mostly calm and composed when he told me that he had just shot the two people.

The officers were given permission to search for the alleged victims and “could not see or hear anyone in the house,” the probable cause said the statement. They found bullet holes and rifle and pistol cases on the floor.

The suspect showed the deputy “where he fired his guns into the wall, he also showed me a live feed video from a camera that was in the area he had shot.” He said he had “previously cut a hole in the wall and placed a camera in this crawl space area so he could see the people hiding from him.”

The officers saw no one on the video of the cordoned off area of ​​the house.

There the suspect pointed out a weapon that he perceived as a weapon. “I could see what looks like a rafter,” the officer wrote.

The MP also reported seeing two small holes that let some light into the area and found them to be gunshot exit holes, suggesting that shots had been fired at a neighbor’s house and a construction site. The neighbors said they were fine and had not noticed any property damage from a bullet, the statement said.

The neighbors told officers the suspect “aimed a gun at them and believed he was struggling with mental health problems,” the statement said.

A search warrant was carried out and weapons, illegal narcotics and drug paraphernalia were confiscated. The suspect was sent to jail without bail.