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MIDVALE — The man arrested at a McDonald's in Midvale on Monday after his 4-year-old son shot at police officers trying to take his father into custody told investigators that the boy had gotten hold of his gun before.
Sadaat Shamille Johnson, 27, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Monday for investigation of child abuse and making threats with a weapon. As of Tuesday, no formal criminal charges had been filed against him.
Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said Monday's incident was something she had never seen during her law enforcement career.
"This is a sad day for us, because the person that pulled that trigger is 4 years old," Rivera said. "Just think of the gravity of that. A 4-year-old was told, we believe, by the father, to pull the trigger and shoot a police officer."
Fortunately, an officer was able to deflect the gun immediately before the young child fired it.
On Monday, Johnson went through the drive-thru of McDonald's, 425 W. 7200 South, about 1:30 p.m. When he received his food, however, he became angry at employees because he didn't get what he had ordered. Police say that's when Johnson brandished a gun at employees.
While the employees told him they would get him the items he ordered, they also called police.
When officers arrived, they attempted to get Johnson out of the car quickly, knowing that he had already displayed a gun at restaurant employees, according to police. Johnson, however, resisted officers' commands and had to be physically pulled from the vehicle, Rivera said.
As the officers took him into custody, one of the officers noticed a firearm coming from the back seat of the car.
The officer pushed the gun out of the way and a shot went off almost simultaneously. That officer suffered a minor injury on his arm from the "blast" of the gun being fired, but was not struck by the bullet, which ended up in the awning above the McDonald's restaurant, the sheriff said.
The officer then discovered that the person holding the gun was a child. He quickly yelled "Kid!" to his partner to alert him not to return fire, Rivera said.
Johnson, who is originally from Bedford, Georgia, has only been in Utah for a few months, according to police. Detectives questioned him after he was taken into custody and he stated "that he had blacked out and that he did not remember brandishing the gun or racking a round at the McDonald's employee," a police booking affidavit states.
Johnson did tell police, however, "that this was not the first time that his son had gotten ahold of his gun," the affidavit states.
Unified Police Sgt. Melody Cutler said Tuesday that those prior incidents allegedly happened when Johnson lived in Georgia. Detectives were still investigating Tuesday under what circumstances the boy previously had possession of his father's gun.
Originally, it was reported that the boy, along with a 3-year-old girl who was also in the car, was handed over to other family members after Johnson's arrest. Unified police clarified on Tuesday that the children were placed into state protective custody.
