Armed suspect hides in garage, then elderly woman’s house during hours-long search
Dec 19, 2022, 8:14 PM | Updated: Dec 20, 2022, 11:21 am
SALT LAKE CITY — The man Salt Lake City police searched for in a Rose Park neighborhood Sunday spent the majority of the time hiding inside an elderly woman’s house.
Officers say 22-year-old Angel Tinajero tried to break into someone’s car. The victim confronted him and he fired in their direction, then ran off.
“The victim then continued to follow the suspect through this Rose Park neighborhood,” said SLCPD spokesperson Brent Weisberg. “That’s when the suspect actually pulled out his gun again and fired three more times, and then eventually, the suspect got inside a house and was essentially hiding from our officers for more than two hours.”
Police say the suspect went into a detached garage then ducked out. Then, he went inside a house, where he hid for hours. Marilyn Green, 85, was inside her living room when the suspect came through her door.
“I heard a knock on the door,” she said. “I thought it was one of my caregivers, and then the guy just burst into the room, bent over and started bawling.”
At 6 – we talk to the woman who was trapped inside her Rose Park house for hours yesterday while police searched for an armed suspect.
He was hiding in her living room. She colored to stay calm.
Full story on @KSL5TV pic.twitter.com/YO1TGCuHTO— Shelby Lofton (@newswithShelby) December 20, 2022
The retired schoolteacher said she told Tinajero to sit down on her couch and calm down.
“I was apprehensive and I just knew I needed to be patient and I didn’t want to get hurt,” Green said.
Police said the two do not know each other.
Green felt trapped inside her home while the suspect was there.
“I kept praying, ‘Heavenly Father, please help me know what to do because I don’t know how to handle this situation,” Green said. “I even colored some pictures while he was here because that calmed me down.”
At one point, he asked Green if he could change his clothes.
“I said, ‘You can go in there and take what you need,’ and then I said, ‘You better leave because you could be caught and I don’t want any gunplay or any problems in this house,'” she said.
Police said they didn’t know where Tinajero was during the two hours he was inside Green’s house.
“We didn’t actually know that he was inside that home until he left the home,” Weisberg said.
An officer spotted him, saw he was acting suspicious, and determined he was the man police had been looking for.
“The sergeant stopped, talked to this person, and ultimately determined him to be the suspect, and that’s when we learned from the victim that he was inside that house,” Weisberg said.
Tinajero is charged with two counts of aggravated assault; one count of burglary of a dwelling; one count of kidnapping; one count of purchasing, transferring, possession, use of a firearm by a restricted person; and four counts of felony discharge of a firearm.
Police found Tinajero’s gun in this neighborhood, but they ask the community to report any bullet holes or bullets they may find from the other three rounds he fired. Anyone who finds evidence should contact the police’s non-emergency line.
