Police investigating stabbing, SWAT standoff in SLC
Oct 24, 2021, 3:41 PM | Updated: 3:44 pm
(Salt Lake City Police Department)
(Salt Lake City Police Department)
SALT LAKE CITY — Police are investigating what led to a stabbing and a SWAT standoff in Salt Lake City Sunday morning.
Officials with the Salt Lake City Police Department said a 37-year-old man was stabbed multiple times after a fight broke out at a late-night house party on Ashton Avenue.
When officers arrived, nine people barricaded themselves inside the home, according to police, and refused calls to come out.
“We knocked. Some people came out. Some people refused,” said Det. Marie Stewart with the SLCPD. “In an abundance of precaution, we called out SWAT and crisis negotiators.”
Late Saturday night, witnesses saw a group of people just hanging out, laughing and drinking on the front porch.
“There was like a big neon sign in the window that said ‘open bar’,” said Jason Wheelock, who witnessed the standoff. “So, it just looked to me like it was some type of a college party — some younger kids having fun drinking at a house.”
But detectives said the party abruptly stopped when words were exchanged and someone pulled out a knife.
Update | 11 AM – Our tactical operations have concluded and the investigation is being turned over to detectives who will continue to speak with the individuals safely detained inside the house to determine what criminal charges are appropriate. #SLC #SaltLakeCity #SLCPD
— SLC Police Dept. (@slcpd) October 24, 2021
Police were called at 5 a.m. Sunday.
They found the victim at a nearby medical facility and worked backward from there to identify where the stabbing occurred.
“I woke up and I heard police over a mega phone,” said Wheelock. “He was essentially commanding a guy to exit the home. And I looked outside and I saw guns drawn, and a young man walked out of the home with his hands up.”
Police said the standoff lasted another five hours before the people held up inside the house gave up and walked out.
“Our end game always is a peaceful resolution and that’s what we got here,” said Stewart.
Police took nine people in to custody, but later released everyone without charges.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Salt Lake City Police Department.
The victim’s identity has not been released.
