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GRANTSVILLE -- Police in Grantsville say they have several persons of interest in the kidnapping and attempted murder of a man Friday afternoon.
They declined to say much more about the investigation Saturday, but the homeowner who called 911 revealed some details of what happened.
"I actually thought someone actually hit my house. That's how loud it was," said Robbie Fackrell.
Fackrell was home alone Friday afternoon when he heard that noise. An injured stranger was at his front door, pleading for help.
He kept yelling at me, ‘They're shooting at me, they're shooting at me. Close the door, lock the door, they're shooting at me.'
–Robbie Frackell
"He kept yelling at me, ‘They're shooting at me, they're shooting at me. Close the door, lock the door, they're shooting at me,'" Fackrell said.
Not knowing if he was in danger, Fackrell rushed to his bedroom, grabbed his gun and called 911.
As Fackrell held the stranger at gunpoint, the man's story began to unfold. He said he had been kidnapped from a Motel 6 in Midvale Friday.
"He had been in his hotel room with his girlfriend and some other friends and she had gotten a text message on her phone saying he was a dead man," Fackrell said.
He told Fackrell that as they tried to leave the motel, some people forced him into a stolen SUV. He said the kidnappers drove west and then switched cars. They eventually stopped on a dead-end road surrounded by fields in Grantsville. It's on Cooley Road, about quarter of a mile from Fackrell's home.
The man told Fackrell he was forced to get out of the car and put his hands on the top of an iron gate.
"He felt the gun on the back of his head because he said they were going to shoot him in the back of the head and he heard a click and the gun didn't go off," Fackrell said.
The man told Fackrell that's when he jumped the gate and broke his ankle. But he was able to escape death a second time.
"He got up and hobbled as they shot at him twice and missed, and for some reason, he could take off running," Fackrell said.
The man told Fackrell the people were after him because he was a witness to some crimes. Police haven't confirmed the motive, but Fackrell hopes the truth will be sorted out quickly.
Fackrell says if the man had been killed, his body may not have been found for several months. He says no one goes on that dead-end road until spring.
E-mail: syi@ksl.com
