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KEARNS — An armed barricade situation that lasted more than eight hours ended peacefully Friday night after two men surrendered to police custody.
At about 2:40 p.m., the Unified Police Department's Kearns precinct posted on Facebook about an armed barricade situation with SWAT near 4300 West and 5780 South. The post encouraged anyone living on 5780 South between 4270 and 4500 West to stay inside until the situation was over.
Police later said officers first responded to the area at about 1:30 p.m. and the men surrendered at 10 p.m. One of the men in custody had warrants for his arrest, and both men are documented gang members, police said.
The two men, whom police didn't identify, are also suspected to have been involved in a Salt Lake City shooting on Sunday and a Kearns shooting on Wednesday — neither of which had injuries, police said.
Residents claim the neighborhood had been under police watch for a while now, especially over the last few days.
"Two adult males were at this location. They have been involved in multiple shootings in the past week. We are currently barricaded with them. We do have SWAT and negotiators out trying to get them to come out safely," Unified Police Sgt. Aymee Race said earlier Friday.
Just before 5 p.m., police escorted a man in handcuffs to the mobile command center on scene. Police say he was not one of the two men they are looking for, but they hoped it would bring more answers.
When the SWAT incident began, Granite School District's website said South Kearns Elementary School entered lockout protocol, meaning all students were brought into the building and all doors were locked. The lockout officially ended at 4:20 p.m., and school district officials said all students had safely left the school.
Granite School District Police secured the building after reports were made of shots being fired in the neighborhood east of the school.
"There is no direct threat to the school and the protocol was enacted out of an abundance of caution," the school district said on the website.
District spokesman Ben Horsley said school was already out for the day, but there were about 50 children on campus involved in after-school activities at the time of the lockout.
Contributing: Brittany Tait and Brianna Chavez
