Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
MURRAY — A man was arrested Monday after police say he attempted to carjack a vehicle in a Denny's parking lot before running to a nearby gas station.
Russell Ryan Carter, 44, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail Monday night for investigation of aggravated robbery, aggravated kidnapping, and theft of a vehicle.
On Sunday, police say Carter pointed a gun at a woman in the parking lot of Denny's, 420 W. 4500 South. The woman, who worked at the restaurant, told police she had gone to her car to look at her phone when Carter knocked on her window and opened her door.
"The victim stated she went to exit her vehicle, and the suspect pushed her back into it with small compact black firearm pointed at her. The victim stated the suspect told her to move over to the front passenger seat," according to a police affidavit.
Carter then allegedly got into the driver's seat and "kept poking her shoulder with the gun," the affidavit states. The woman told Carter she did not have the keys to the car, and Carter told her he didn't want to hurt her.
The woman then ran back into the restaurant unharmed while police say Carter ran into a nearby Shell gas station, 4489 S. Century Drive.
Employees ran out of the gas station as Carter barricaded himself inside. By the time a Murray SWAT team arrived, Carter was gone. Carter also stole a van in the same area, the affidavit states.
Detectives collected a surveillance photo of Carter from inside the gas station and released it to the public in an effort to help identify him.
The woman whom Carter allegedly pointed a gun at told police that he was putting items in another car before approaching her, the affidavit states. Officers checked the registration of that vehicle, which led them to Carter's father.
When Carter was arrested by police, he told officers that "he was very high on drugs that day," the affidavit says, and "his memory (of what happened) wasn't the best due to the drugs he took."
Police say he told them that when he got into the woman's car "he remembers the look on her face, and he realized he was doing something wrong," and that's when he ran off.
After Carter saw the picture of himself on the news, he said he "wanted to leave the state and go to the mountains," the affidavit states.
