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SALT LAKE CITY — Some said he had a standard bow and arrow, others said it was a crossbow.
But according to a newly unsealed search warrant affidavit, Brandon Earl McCormick, 57, of Taylorsville, who was arrested and later charged for allegedly threatening protesters in downtown Salt Lake City, had both.
On May 30, while some streets in downtown Salt Lake City were blocked by hundreds of people protesting the death of George Floyd in Minnesota, McCormick drove on 200 East near 415 South, got out of his car and yelled at protesters, then brandished a knife and later a bow and arrow, according to police.
“He is observed loading the arrow into the bow and drawing the arrow back. He then points the bow with the arrow loaded and drawn back at several people in the crowd in a manner as if to shoot them,” charging documents state.
McCormick was later charged in 3rd District Court with two counts of possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, and aggravated assault, both third-degree felonies; and threatening to use a weapon during a fight, a class A misdemeanor.
Initially, there were reports from witnesses that McCormick had a crossbow. The new search warrant appears to confirm that.
According to the affidavit, after McCormick got out of his car, he “removed a crossbow from the vehicle and aimed the crossbow toward the crowd of the protesters ... McCormick then pointed a compound bow in the direction of the crowd. The compound bow was confiscated at the scene.”
But before police could search McCormick’s vehicle, protesters flipped it and set it on fire.
After the fire was out, the vehicle was moved to an impound lot where an investigator from the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives went through it, the warrant states.
“During the ATF investigation the agent located the remains of a crossbow inside the Dodge Caliber in amongst ashes and soot. As it was alleged that the crossbow had been pointed at the crowd of protesters, it is in the best interest of justice that the remains of the crossbow should be removed from the vehicle and placed into evidence,” the warrant states.
A preliminary hearing for McCormick in the case is scheduled for July 14. He is also scheduled to be in Taylorsville Justice Court on July 13 on a charge of assault in an alleged separate road rage incident.
