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WEST JORDAN — Police arrested a man Tuesday after he allegedly went on a carjacking spree, stealing four vehicles and attempting to take two others.
The wild series of events began about 7:30 a.m. when a man approached a vehicle parked at 7574 S. Uranium Drive (2030 West) where a parent had gone back inside her house for a moment, said West Jordan Police Sgt. Joe Monson.
"The suspect went up to open the (car) door, saw the kids in it, then the homeowner yelled at him," Monson said.
After seeing the children inside the car and the mother coming out of her house yelling, the man ran off, he said.
About 15 minutes later, the same man went to the south side of West Jordan Middle School, 7550 S. Redwood Road, and took a vehicle belonging to a crossing guard who had just gotten out of her car, according to Monson.
The woman was still holding onto her car when he stole it, police said.
"As she was trying to stop him from stealing it, he drove off, knocking her to the ground," said Unified Police Sgt. Jared Richardson.
The woman complained of a sore shoulder but declined to be transported to a local hospital.
That vehicle was later abandoned in the Taylorsville area. After dropping off that vehicle, the man then took a second vehicle, Richardson said.
After driving that vehicle for a short time, he abandoned it and then stole a third vehicle in the Kearns-Taylorsville area, police said.
The man drove that car for a short time before also abandoning it in the Kearns area, according to investigators.
Richardson said the man then entered a house, just after 8 a.m., and confronted the homeowner with a knife, demanding her car keys.
That homeowner, Stacy Buhler, had already taken one daughter to school and was getting her other two daughters, ages 12 and 9, ready for school. She had left her garage door open after coming home from dropping off the first daughter.
"And then this guy came in through the garage door and he said, 'I need the keys to your Hyundai.' And I was just going, 'Who are you? Why are you in my house?'" she recalled.
The man, who Buhler said was sweating so heavily it appeared as though someone had poured water over his head, repeatedly demanded her keys. But despite being threatened with a weapon, Buhler wouldn't give in to the intruder's demands and ordered him multiple times to get out.
"'I'm not giving you those keys. Get out of my house,'" she said she told him. "I just keep telling people you never know what Mama Bear can do. I just wanted him out of my house and my kids were safe."
After successfully chasing the man out of the house, he ran to a neighbor's house and jumped into a pickup truck that the owner was loading with tools, Richardson said. The man locked the car doors before the owner could pull him out, and then he drove off, leaving a trail of tools all over the road behind him. It was his fourth stolen vehicle of the morning.
Police spotted that vehicle about 9 a.m. in a store parking lot near 5400 South and 4000 West, and officers attempted to stop him.
"He drives over a sign and flees from them," Richardson said.
As police continued to pursue the man along 5400 South, he attempted to jump the median near 3740 West and drove into oncoming traffic. His vehicle, however, went only 100 more feet before breaking down, possibly because of the damage caused by running over the sign and median, according to the sergeant.
Unified police officers were immediately "on top" of the man so he didn't have a chance to run again, Richardson said.
Tyler Lavell Holt, 26, of Kearns, was arrested for investigation of a number of charges, including possession of a stolen vehicle and fleeing. Holt has an extensive criminal history in Utah, according to court records. With Tuesday's arrest, he has now been booked into the Salt Lake County Jail 23 times.
Most recently, he was charged with retail theft, a third-degree felony. He was scheduled to make an initial appearance in that case Wednesday.
Holt was charged with misdemeanor theft in September. A warrant was issued for his arrest on Nov. 2 for failing to show up for court. He was also charged with felony burglary and theft in Tooele County on Aug. 13 and had a warrant issued for failing to show up for court on Oct. 17, according to court records.
In addition, an arrest warrant was issued for failing to show up to court on a separate case of being a restricted person in possession of a firearm.
Holt was also convicted of two counts of shoplifting on June 6. He was found guilty of drug possession in 2014, and convicted of felony burglary in 2008 and later sent to the Utah State Prison after failing to meet the terms of his probation, court records state.
Contributing: Mike Anderson
