Police say a West Valley City man held six Latter-day Saint missionaries at gunpoint for more than an hour Wednesday night, but they were able to leave the man’s home unharmed.
The missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints went to a home near 3400 West and Coventry Park Drive about 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, according to a probable cause statement filed in court, and the 45-year-old man who lives there let them in “to talk about the word of God.” He showed the six men three guns, police allege, making them “feel very uneasy and not free to leave.”
The missionaries told police they were trying to leave after they’d been in the home for 10 minutes, but the man “made several threats that they could not leave and waved the firearm” at them, keeping them there for more than an hour.
According to the missionaries, the man was drinking and pointed the gun at them “if he did not like what they were talking about.”
The missionaries were eventually able to calm the man down and leave. When he was questioned by police, the man allegedly admitted he had pulled a gun out to show it to the missionaries.
He was booked into the Salt Lake County jail on suspicion of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault and possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person.
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