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Whit Johnson Reporting A big scare for hundreds of parents and students at a Midvale school as police moved in on what they thought was a possible sniper on the roof.
Sgt. Gregg Olsen/ Midvale Police: "[Police said]'Get down. Get down on the ground. Show us your hands.' He didn't comply with them. At that point we realized we might have some sort of a problem."
The SWAT team evacuated a football field Saturday for what turned out to be a father eager for a photo-op.
The place was packed with families enjoying some junior league football. One father with a camera, hoping to get a bird's-eye view, climbed up to the roof and almost didn't come down.
It was a typical fall Saturday at Midvale Middle School. Football was the common attraction, until patrol cars and the SWAT team showed up.
Sgt. Gregg Olsen/ Midvale Police: "We actually thought this person did have a rifle and was up there. The way he was acting was very suspicious to us."
Someone noticed a man climbing up to the roof, carrying some kind of green bag.
Sgt. Gregg Olsen/ Midvale Police: "Fairly long, probably about three and a half feet long. Had it strung over his shoulder."
She thought it was a gun and called police. When officers arrived, they told the man to get down and show his hands, but he didn't listen.
Sgt. Gregg Olsen/ Midvale Police: "Our SWAT sniper-- you saw the rifle-- he had this guy eyes on with the sniper scope. He probably would have taken him out."
When the man finally came down, police surrounded him. He revealed no gun, instead a camera.
David Squires / Friend of Suspect: "I've known him for 25 years. He's an upstanding citizen. He's a spiritual being. He would never do anything other than goodness for his children. I'm sure his family is humiliated."
Friends say he was trying to get video of his son playing football.
Suzy Wettstein / Witness: "When it comes to the safety of our kids, I think whatever they need to do for us to be safe, I think it's necessary."
Sgt. Gregg Olsen/ Midvale Police: "We took this as a real threat, especially with the kids out in the back and the parents. If this was a real threat, it could've been very, very bad, especially with what's going on the past few weeks with school shootings across the country."
Nearly 1,000 people were evacuated from the fields for just about 20 minutes when all of this happened. The suspect was taken into custody and released on a citation for trespassing. Police say he was embarrassed and very apologetic.
