This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
SOUTH SALT LAKE - After a man was shot and killed at his apartment complex last summer, Phillip Reinhardt bought a 9 mm handgun and began keeping it loaded under his bed.
The purchase paid off early Saturday. Reinhardt used the gun to stop an attack on his girlfriend inside their apartment, shooting the teenage intruder. The intruder kicked in the couple's deadbolted door around 5:45 a.m., rousing Patricia Knepper from bed in their ground-floor unit of Mountain Shadow Apartments, 3897 S. 700 West. The intruder grabbed Knepper and fondled her. Reinhardt then fired one shot from about five feet away, hitting the intruder.
The intruder tried to escape, but Knepper stood between him and the front door.
The intruder - whose erratic action convinced Knepper he was high on drugs - had other plans, breaking a window and jumping through.
The intruder's bizarre behavior continued after his hasty escape, Knepper said. He went up an exterior staircase in the complex and banged on a second-story apartment door and then fell over a railing. He tried to re-enter Knepper's apartment, she said.
The man, identified by police as 18-year-old Daniel Glen Larsen, was caught running near 3900 South.
He was taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for the gunshot wound and was expected to be booked into Salt Lake County jail today on suspicion of breaking and entering and assault, said Lt. Gary Keller, a South Salt Lake police spokesman.
Police await toxicology results to determine if Larsen was intoxicated.
It took hours for Knepper's hands to stop shaking after the attack, she said.
Knepper said she plans to move from the area after a string of violent crimes at the complex in recent months, including two shootings and a double-stabbing.
- Russ Rizzo