This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Two serial bank robbery suspects were in custody Wednesday, one of them recovering from gunshot wound suffered during a struggle over an arresting Unified Police detective's pistol.
UPD Lt. Justin Hoyal said the 30-year-old male suspect was shot in the leg Tuesday night as he grappled with a detective for the lawman's handgun outside the Fresh Market grocery store at 2300 E. 3900 South in Millcreek. The suspect had pulled the weapon from the detective's holster as he fought being handcuffed.
The detective immediately tackled the suspect, struggling to keep the weapon pointed at the ground. The suspect still managed to pull the trigger, but the bullet, while going through the detective's coat, instead struck the suspect in the leg.
Even then, the suspect fought the detective and other arriving officers before finally being subdued. In the suspect's waistband, police found a black BB pistol believed to be the same weapon used in six bank Salt Lake County bank robberies — including one two weeks at the Wells Fargo Bank branch inside the Fresh Market site.
The suspect was taken to Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, treated and released Wednesday to be booked into the Salt Lake County jail. He was being held without bail on suspicion of six first-degree felony counts of aggravated robbery and one second-degree count of attempted murder, as well as first-degree felony count of disarming of a police officer.
The detective, who suffered minor hand injuries, was treated at St. Mark's Hospital and then released.
A 32-year-old female, identified as the suspect's girlfriend and getaway driver, was spotted waiting behind the wheel of a car in the parking lot and also arrested. She, too, was booked on the seven robbery-related counts, Hoyal said.
Hoyal said detectives had staked out the location in hopes the gun-toting serial bank robber would come back for a criminal encore.
About 7 p.m. Tuesday, "[detectives] observed a male matching the description enter the store. [They] followed the suspect, who went toward the bank, but [he] then turned and was exiting the store," Hoyal said.
When the detectives approached the man, "he immediately resisted and a struggle ensued."
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