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CENTERVILLE -- A man suspected of kidnapping a woman in Salt Lake then trying to rob a couple of businesses in Centerville was critically injured when he was run over by a vehicle.
At this point, it's unclear what the motive was behind the bizarre behavior of the suspect.
–Centerville police
Police say around midnight, 41-year-old Paul Jaramillo forced a 23-year-old woman into her car at knifepoint in the parking lot of the Smith's store at 500 South and 500 East in Salt Lake City.
They drove toward Ogden and stopped at the Top Stop convenience store at 382 N. Marketplace Drive in Centerville to fill the car with gasoline. Jaramillo took the woman's cell phone and money and went inside. She fled on foot and hid in some nearby shrubs.
Jaramillo became agitated and decided to rob the convenience store clerk. The clerk refused, so Jaramillo turned to a customer and punched him.
"It was just an out-of-the-blue sucker punch to the customer. The customer didn't really understand what was going down, but it knocked him down," said Centerville police Lt. Paul Child. "The customer got back up again, and the suspect hit him again, and at that point the customer started actively defending himself."
The customer pushed Jaramillo out of the store. But the would-be robber then walked to the Wendy's next door. He started pounding on the windows and doors, threatening the employees inside.
Two employees locked themselves in a back room and called police. Jaramillo tried to rob two other employees, but they ran into the parking lot with the man chasing after them.
"After that was not successful at Wendy's, he came back out in the parking lot," Child said. "The customer that he originally assaulted was attempting to leave. The suspect went over to the customer's vehicle, started pounding on the vehicle demanding he give him the keys."
Child said as Jaramillo was pounding on the car, the driver began inching the Chevy Tahoe SUV forward to scare the man away. Instead the man fell to the ground and the SUV ran over him.
"He was pinned under the vehicle. At that point, the customer stopped. We were called, and he was (airlifted) to an area hospital in critical condition," Child explained.
The woman who was kidnapped returned to the scene. Investigators talked to her and determined the kidnapping was random.
Jaramillo may face charges of aggravated kidnapping, auto theft, aggravated assault and several counts of aggravated robbery.
None of the victims suffered serious injuries, although the woman had a small injury to her neck and the customer at Top Stop suffered some bruising to his face. The employees at Wendy's were emotionally shaken but not physically harmed.
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Story compiled with information from Shara Park and Andrew Adams.
