Man with gun lures cops with fake kidnapping story, police say


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

ST. GEORGE — A St. George man was arrested Friday following a bizarre situation that police say could have ended violently.

St. George police said they received a 911 call just before 6:30 a.m. from a 32-year-old man who claimed his 7-year-old daughter had been kidnapped.

"He claimed he woke up and his daughter was missing from his apartment," said St. George Police Sgt. Sam Despain.

The man said he believed the kidnapper was still inside his apartment near 1100 East and 400 South, and that he had a gun and was going to look for her, Despain said.

The first arriving officers heard two gunshots coming from inside the home. They then saw a man exit the house holding a gun. The man followed the officers' orders to drop his weapon and no additional shots were fired, police said.

As investigators sorted out what happened, they discovered that there really had not been a kidnapping and that the man they had just taken into custody was the one who called 911, according to St. George police.

Despain said investigators also learned that the man had fired one shot through a wall into an adjacent apartment, and fired another round into the floor that went into an apartment below. No one in those apartments was injured.

Investigators say drugs or alcohol may have contributed to the situation.

Jacob Holland was taken to a local hospital for an evaluation before being arrested for investigation of two counts of reckless endangerment for each gunshot, disorderly conduct, illegal firing a gun within city limits and intoxication.

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Pat Reavy

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast