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PAYSON — A 37-year-old man was arrested Thursday after police say he held his neighbor and her friend hostage and stabbed them both multiple times with a screwdriver.
Joshua Solis, of Payson, was arrested for investigation of aggravated assault, kidnapping, possession of a controlled substance, and damaging a communication device, according to a probable cause statement.
He was booked into Utah County Jail Thursday; criminal charges have not yet been filed.
Payson police responded to a disorderly conduct report about 9:09 a.m. Thursday and spoke with Solis and two others in the house, the report states. The two others, a 62-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman, had blood on their faces and mouths. Police noted that the woman appeared to have a puncture wound on her chest.
The 62-year-old man does not live in the area and was there to help the woman, his friend, with yardwork, according to Draper Police Sgt. Noemi Sandoval.
The woman told police that Solis stabbed her in the chest with a screwdriver and held her and the man hostage by holding a knife to their throats and preventing them from leaving the home, according to the report.
Solis then dragged the woman out of of her home and tried to put her in the trunk of her car, which was parked in the carport, police said.
The woman picked up her phone and tried to call 911, but Solis took the phone and destroyed it, the report states. A neighbor across the street witnessed a man striking a woman and called police, Sandoval said, prompting a response to the location.
The man that was visiting the woman told police he witnessed the assault on the woman and intervened, but Solis then assaulted him, according to the report. Solis allegedly wanted the man to assist him in getting the woman inside the car trunk, but the man told him he wouldn’t help, the report states.
Solis then became upset and stabbed the man in the chest and abdomen area multiple times with a screwdriver, the man told police. Both victims were transported to the hospital for medical care, according to police.
Hospital staff told police both victims sustained a punctured lung from the stab wounds “inflicted by (Solis),” the report states. Sandoval said both victims were in the ICU at different Utah County hospitals but were conscious, and doctors expect the two to recover.
Solis allegedly wasn’t able to carry on a conversation with police and appeared to be under the influence of meth, the report states. Solis denied the allegations and told police he went to the home earlier in the morning because he could hear the man and woman arguing from his home across the street, according to the report.
Sandoval said Solis was squatting in the home across the street at the time of the attack and has recently been homeless.
Solis has a lengthy criminal history, according to previous charging documents, and the report says at the time of his arrest he was on parole and felony probation. Sandoval said he was incarcerated recently and has been out of prison for less than a year.
The woman told police she’s known Solis for about 10 years, since he is from the area, Sandoval said. According to the woman, there’s been no prior altercations between the two and Thursday’s attack appeared unprompted, the sergeant said.
Solis and the woman have spent time together in the past as acquaintances, and Solis has been to her home before and asked for food, Sandoval said. When Solis went to the woman’s house Thursday she thought he was possibly there to help with the yardwork, according to Sandoval.
Police are still investigating the case.
