Gunman arrested, accused of threatening to shoot 2 Salt Lake officers

SALT LAKE CITY — A man accused of pointing a gun at two Salt Lake police officers and threatening to kill them was arrested Wednesday without any shots being fired.

Miles Matthew Moreland, 36, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of two counts of aggravated assault.

An officer was in the area of 700 S. Main Wednesday when his partner "informed me that a man was staring him down in a threatening manner near 700 S. State Street," according to a police booking affidavit.

The first officer hurried over to State Street and observed Moreland staring at the second officer.

"The male began reaching towards his waistband and I observed the male yelling, 'Let's go' as he then pulled a firearm from his waistband," the arresting officer wrote in the affidavit.

The first officer got out of his patrol car and ordered Moreland, at gunpoint, to drop his weapon. Moreland complied and was taken into custody.

After he was arrested, Moreland said, "his goal was to kill myself and my partner but he said he changed his mind when he realized he did not want to get shot," the arrest report says.

In addition to a gun, police say Moreland was carrying "cockroach poison," which he allegedly claimed "he would use to kill a person, he did not know who or when."

Related topics