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SALT LAKE CITY — A suspected bank robber who fired an officer's gun in a scuffle with police now faces 15 felony charges, including disarming an officer and attempted aggravated murder.
Police say Joshua Edward Jensen, 30, dressed in disguises and carried out 10 armed robberies in Salt Lake County from mid-October to Jan. 13, when he was confronted by plainclothes officers staking out a Wells Fargo branch inside a Holladay Fresh Market, 3865 S. 2300 East, according to charges filed Thursday.
One officer spotted Jensen walking around in the store and approached him outside, noticing the dried glue and remnants of a fake mustache above his lip, charges state. Jensen immediately began fighting with the officers and all three tumbled to the ground.
During the struggle, Jensen grabbed for one of the officer's guns and managed to get it out of its holster. Jensen jumped to his feet, raised the gun and said, "I'm going to shoot," charges state.
The officer grabbed the gun and forced it to point downward, struggling as Jensen attempted to aim it at both officers, charges state. The gun fired, sending a single shot through the the officer's jacket and into Jensen's leg.
The officer, who still had his hand on the gun, was injured when the shot fired. He required four stitches.
As Jensen continued to fight, the second officer was able to knock the gun out of his hand and kick it away. The officers struggled with Jensen until help arrived and he was arrested.
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"Our officer did everything he could to keep his hand on that gun and keep it pointed in a safe direction, so as to not get shot, let the other officer get shot, or any other innocent citizens to get shot. The actions our officers took were nothing less than heroic by keeping that gun pointed in a safe direction."Jensen was charged in 3rd District Court with two counts of attempted aggravated murder and one count of disarming an officer, all first-degree felonies. He was also charged with 10 counts of first-degree felony aggravated robbery; possession of a firearm by a restricted person, a third-degree felony; possession of a controlled substance, a third-degree felony; and providing false information to an officer, a class C misdemeanor.
Jensen's girlfriend, 32-year-old Tiffani Lalor, was spotted watching the confrontation from her car and was taken into custody. Lalor told police she had driven Jensen to and from the different robberies in his car and helped him pick which locations to rob, court documents state.
In Lalor's car investigators found gloves, fake facial hair, Goo Gone cleaner, a box of syringes and cocaine.
Jensen — who was carrying fake facial hair, gloves and a handgun — tested positive for cocaine, charges state.
Lalor was charged Thursday with 10 counts of aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, and possession of a controlled substance, a third-degree felony.
