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Sam Penrod ReportingLike a scene from a prime-time police drama, police surround a robbery suspect in the middle of a popular Salt Lake Valley shopping district. It made for a very public arrest. The parking lot of Fashion Place Mall is where this man's luck ran out. His capture was the end of a very bizarre situation.
The suspect's arrest came after some very strange circumstances. He pulled a gun on a store manager after being asked to leave Barnes and Noble. Then he hired someone filling up their car with gas for a ride.
The man who gave the suspect a ride tells an interesting story. First he thought he was only being helpful giving the man a ride. That was until his friend called his cell phone and told him the man in his car was a criminal and was armed with a gun.
Thirty minutes earlier at a book store, the suspect was noticed by employees, who asked the man to leave.
Sgt. Rosie Rivera , Salt Lake Co. Sheriff's Dept.: "The manager there recognized a man who in the past and had done some shoplifting."
When the man refused, store employees decided to call police. But when the man learned deputies were on their way, he did something no one expected.
Sgt. Rosie Rivera: "He pulled a gun on the manager at Barnes and Noble. He fled out of there and was running over to the Tesoro gas station."
That's when the suspect asked someone at the gas station for a ride, offering him five dollars. But when employees at Barnes and Noble came running out of the store, the driver's friend who stayed behind called the driver on the cell phone.
When the man was let out of the car, several deputies were already waiting and the chase was on. The man ran through the mall and then outside through the parking lot. With guns drawn, police ordered the man on the ground and he was handcuffed and arrested.
Detectives say the man still had the gun. Detectives are still questioning the suspect. So far he has not been booked in jail, but he appears to have a criminal history.
As far as the driver, he was questioned by police and released, and yes, he did get his five bucks!
