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TOOELE — A Nevada man has been charged with pointing a gun at a fitness center employee before climbing on the roof of the business and falling off.
Randy Lee Gamwell, 56, of Carson City, was charged this week in Tooele's 3rd District Court with aggravated burglary, a first-degree felony; aggravated assault, a third-degree felony; and having a stolen vehicle, a second-degree felony.
On April 9, Gamwell went into VASA Fitness, 250 N. Main Street in Tooele, pulled a gun on a maintenance worker and then locked himself in the maintenance room, according to charging documents.
When police arrived at the fitness center, they found Gamwell lying on the ground outside the building after apparently falling off the roof. He was flown by medical helicopter to a Salt Lake hospital.
When Gamwell was well enough to speak to detectives, he told them "he had seen his picture on the news earlier that day" and got spooked when he saw a helicopter "and assumed it was the police after him," according to the charges.
After a VASA employee chased Gamwell out of the maintenance room, he said he went to the roof "and noticed a small cable and thought he could use that to swing to the pole and then climb down," the charges state.
Gamwell said he had bailed out of jail in Nevada and didn't want to go back, so he traveled to Tooele County instead, court records state. A fugitive warrant was issued for Gamwell. He was wanted on a charge of battery by strangulation.
The gun was determined to be a BB gun. Gamwell was released from the hospital on April 23.
