Man arrested after confronting two teens outside Logan High School with a gun
Sep 13, 2021, 4:00 PM | Updated: 11:35 pm
LOGAN, Utah — Logan High School was temporarily placed on lockdown Monday morning after police said a man confronted two teenage girls in the parking lot with a handgun, claiming they had stolen a bicycle from his home.
Officials with the Logan City Police Department said multiple officers responded to the high school, located at 162 West and 100 South, around 11 a.m. after receiving a report of a man with a gun in front of the school.
“In this day and age, you just don’t know what’s going to happen, right?” said Capt. Curtis Hooley. “Even in Logan, Utah.”
Before the officers arrived on scene, they were informed that a school resource officer had met the suspect at the door.
“The male did not have a gun in his possession at that time,” read a press release from LCPD.
During the investigation, police discovered the man had approached two girls, ages 17 and 19, who were riding bicycles through the parking lot in front of the school, just north of 100 South.
Police said the man got out of his truck and confronted the teens, saying they had stolen one of the bicycles from his home just a few blocks away.
“It was reported he confronted these two with a handgun, which he pointed at them, commanding them to get off the bicycles and get on the ground,” read the press release.
Police said the girls complied with the commands, then took off running.
After confronting the teen girls, police said 36-year-old Kristopher Egbert placed the bicycle and gun inside his truck before entering the school, carrying one of the teen’s backpacks that had been left behind.
The high school was then placed under a lockdown, which lasted for approximately 10 minutes.
“During an interview with the male… (he) admitted he did point a 9mm handgun at the females because they had stolen a bicycle from his residence a short time before then found them in the parking lot,” read the press release.
“I understand that his wife had called him, said, ‘Hey, these girls just stole one of our kids’ bikes,’ and he started searching the area,” said Hooley.
Police later determined that one of the bicycles had, in fact, been stolen from Egbert’s property.
The theft remains under investigation.
Detectives said though the man found the girls and got the bike back, he now faces legal consequences over the situation that placed the school into lockdown.
“It’s a kid’s BMX bike,” said Hooley. “Is that worth displaying a weapon, pointing it at another individual to try to get them so that you can get your bicycle back?”
Police said there was definitely a better way.
“We easily, in this situation, probably could have headed them off,” said Hooley. “He would have went off in his truck with his kid’s bicycle and there would have been no other issues.”
Egbert was booked into the Cache County Jail for investigation of several charges, including two counts of aggravated assault, a third degree felony, and one count of disorderly conduct, a class C misdemeanor.