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SALT LAKE CITY — A couple visiting Salt Lake City recounted an unsettling and scary encounter, claiming two young boys physically attacked the husband after shooting him several times with what looked like pellet guns.
The injuries were serious enough to send him to the hospital, and now Salt Lake City police are investigating.
Sarah Baker said Monday that her husband, Brad Pollack, was walking back to their daughter and son's apartment from the 400 South 900 East TRAX station. The couple is visiting from California and staying with their two kids, who attend the University of Utah.
That's when Pollack felt pelted by something on 900 East.
"He looked across the street, and there were two young boys pointing their guns at him. It looked like some kind of Nerf gun or something," Baker recounted. She said he was shocked they were shooting at him, so he crossed the street to ask them to stop and tell them it wasn't OK.
She explained that one of the kids started swinging his gun at Pollack and trying to hit him.
"That's when they kind of turned on him, and that's when they went, and they swung at him, and then he grabbed their gun and broke it," she explained. "And then they pursued him for probably three blocks or so."
Baker said Pollack got his cellphone out to film about 10 or so minutes into the kids continuing to follow Pollack and yell at him. She said the kids were throwing rocks at him and screaming about one of their guns being broken.
Pollack took a video clip showing the two children yelling at him and following him. In the video, the older boy approaches Pollack multiple times and uses his large pellet-looking gun to hit Pollack in the face while screaming at him.
"You don't break other people's things," the kid yells in the video. "You're the one who hit me with your gun!" Pollack exclaims back.
In the video, Pollack repeatedly yells, "Leave me alone!" while backing away. A woman walking a dog stops and asks what's going on.
"They're shooting me, and then they hit me with their gun!" Pollack replies.
I certainly didn't imagine it was two young kids. I thought that maybe he had been mugged.
–Sarah Baker
Baker said Pollack called the police and was able to get away from the boys, walking in the door of their children's apartment with his face bloody from the boy hitting him with the gun and welts visible from the pellets.
"I certainly didn't imagine it was two young kids," Baker said after seeing her husband. "I thought that maybe he had been mugged."
Baker said welts formed on Pollack's neck, cheekbone, and eye area. The bridge of his nose was lacerated and bleeding. He ended up getting several stitches at the hospital.
Salt Lake City police confirmed the assault report and said they are investigating. They could not provide any other information about the investigation.
They're hoping to spread awareness to parents about the dangers of pellet-style guns. The gun in Pollack's video looks very similar to an XL Gel Blaster, though it is unclear what style of pellet guns the kids used or what type of pellets they shot him with.
The couple isn't sure if it was part of the recent TikTok pellet gun challenges going viral, but Baker was disturbed that the kids were encouraged to harass and attempt to frighten her husband.
They're also warning parents to supervise their children when playing with any style of pellet gun.
As for the two boys, Baker said it's important for them to know that they seriously hurt somebody.
"You can't treat people like this and that these are human beings," she said. "It's not some kind of like video game or something that's funny. It's really serious."
