Early morning fishing excursion ends with shots fired and an arrest

Two fishermen are being investigated for allegedly detaining and shooting at a man who broke into their trucks. All three men now face potential charges.

Two fishermen are being investigated for allegedly detaining and shooting at a man who broke into their trucks. All three men now face potential charges. (feeling lucky, Shutterstock)


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Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

KEY TAKEAWAYS
  • Sandy police arrested a man for allegedly shooting at a fleeing vehicle Monday.
  • The incident occurred at Sandy Urban Fishery after a truck's windows were broken.
  • Charges are pending against all involved, including potential vehicle burglary and unlawful detention.

SANDY — Sandy police are sorting through a fishing story involving three men that ended with one man being arrested for allegedly shooting at a fleeing vehicle, and charges pending against all three.

About 2 a.m. Monday, officers from both the Sandy and South Jordan police departments responded to a report of shots fired at the Sandy Urban Fishery, 9600 S. 900 West, also known as "Grandpa's Fish Pond."

Police arrived to find two men who had been fishing who said they heard three loud "bangs" coming from the parking lot. The men went to investigate what was going on and spotted a man who had broken the windows of both trucks, then drove to the pond, according to a police booking affidavit.

"(One man) asked why he had broken the glass on their trucks. The male replied he did that because he believed that it was his buddy's truck and his buddy owed him money. (He then) asked why the male had broken windows on both trucks. The male didn't have a good reason," the affidavit states.

At that point, the anglers called 911. Both men were armed and one man unholstered his gun and had it by his side, according to the affidavit.

After the driver asked the fisherman with the gun if he was "going to shoot me" he put his truck in reverse and then drove forward at least three times in an apparent attempt to leave, the affidavit says. One fisherman, however, tried to block the driver from leaving by standing in front of his vehicle.

When the driver finally moved forward past the man trying to block him, the second fisherman thought the driver was trying to hit his friend, so he "shot at the vehicle from the rear and passenger side of the vehicle, back about 10 feet. All three shots struck the vehicle. None hit the driver," according to the arrest report.

No one was injured in the incident.

The fishermen waited at the pond for officers to arrive. Police tracked down the driver of the fleeing vehicle in Riverton. When detectives questioned him, he admitted to breaking into one of the fisherman's vehicles, but then claimed the two anglers threatened to "kill him" if he left, the affidavit states.

The 29-year-old man who police say fired the shots was arrested and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of three counts of aggravated assault, unlawful detention and illegal discharge of a firearm.

The man accused of breaking into the truck was released, but the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office is expected to review the case for possible vehicle burglary charges. The second fisherman was cited for unlawful detention and was released, according to the affidavit.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Pat Reavy, KSLPat Reavy
Pat Reavy interned with KSL in 1989 and has been a full-time journalist for either KSL or Deseret News since 1991. For the past 25 years, he has worked primarily the cops and courts beat.
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