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MARRIOTT-SLATERVILLE — Calling it a "very tense situation," Weber County sheriff's deputies confronted a man Friday who they believed was carrying an AR-15 assault rifle.
But rather than the incident ending with deadly force, the deputies were able to eventually take the man into custody without anyone being injured.
"Those are such difficult situations to respond on because there's limited information. We don't know why this individual was there. We don't know what his intentions were. And so to pull up on a scene where you have an individual armed with a gun that appears to be an assault rifle, obviously a very dangerous situation," said Weber County Sheriff's Sgt. Lane Findlay.
"I just commend the officers for their restraint and the actions they took and discerning what was going on and safely contacting him and getting him into custody," he said.
The incident began Friday morning when at least four motorists reported seeing a man walking along 12th Street near I-15 "waving the gun around and acting strangely," though he wasn't pointing it directly at people, Findlay said.
At least four deputies arrived at the scene to confront the man who was reportedly "slow" to respond to officer's commands and wouldn't put his gun down.
"They engaged him at gunpoint and told him to put the weapon down and he wouldn't do it at first. And he was kind of arguing with them somewhat, 'Why do I have to put it down?'" Findlay said.
I just commend the officers for their restraint and the actions they took and discerning what was going on and safely contacting him and getting him into custody.
–Weber County Sheriff's Sgt. Lane Findlay
The gun turned out to be an Air Soft rifle. But at the time, the deputies didn't know the gun wasn't a real assault rifle.
"They had no idea. All the information they had was from the callers that there was this guy walking down 12th Street," Findlay said. "We still don't know why he was there because he's not from that area. They had no indication the gun wasn't real. It looked like a real AR-15. He had taken black tape and taped the end of it, the orange tip."
The man never pointed his weapon at the officers or directly threatened them. But Findlay said he was argumentative and non-cooperative. Even when he dropped his gun on the ground, he still continued to argue, he said.
Eventually, Rafael De Luna, 28, of Ogden, was arrested for investigation of disorderly conduct and on an outstanding warrant.
De Luna was wanted for failing to show up for sentencing in a criminal mischief conviction in September in a case involving domestic violence. His new sentencing date on that case was scheduled for Wednesday.
