A Utah father was charged with two felonies after his 4-year-old son used the man’s handgun to shoot at police outside a McDonald’s in Midvale last month.
The shooting unfolded Feb. 21 after police tried to arrest the father for allegedly brandishing that same gun at a McDonald’s drive-thru employee, charging documents state. No officers were shot, but one officer did receive a minor burn from the weapon’s discharge.
The father, 27, had taken his young children — one 3 years old, the other 4 — to the McDonald’s while his fiancee got her nails done, according to the charging documents. He received their order but told an employee that it wasn’t correct and started arguing with her, the documents state.
The employee told police that the father then grabbed his handgun from the passenger seat and racked it, ejecting a bullet. He then put the gun down and continued to argue, she said in court documents, but she closed the drive-thru window and called police, fearing that he may shoot her or others inside. The father then hit the drive-thru window and picked up the gun again, she said.
The father told police that he “blacked out” during the confrontation and denied brandishing and racking the gun. He said he moved the gun because the food was sitting on it. Police said surveillance footage corroborates the employee’s story.
Unified police officers soon arrived at the restaurant near 400 West and 7200 South and found the father in his car with the windows rolled up and the doors locked. He eventually got out and police put him on the ground to arrest him.
The two children remained in the car. That’s when his 4-year-old son grabbed his father’s gun “because he wanted his daddy back,” according to charing documents.
As UPD officer M. Mathews walked past the driver’s side window of the father’s car, he saw a silver handgun “emerge” from inside, the documents state. He swiped the gun away and it fired, hitting the exterior of the McDonald’s.
“Officer Mathews took a step back and yelled at the person inside the car to drop the gun,” charging documents state. “Officer Mathews peered into the car and saw a small child looking at him.”
The father told police that his son has taken the gun before. He said he didn’t teach him “bad things about the police” but just told him to “keep away” from officers if possible.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office charged the man with one third-degree felony count each of child abuse and aggravated assault, as well as a class B misdemeanor count of interference with an arresting officer.
A public safety assessment suggested that the father be released on his on recognizance, but he is being held in the Salt Lake County jail without bail, records state.
The father has no apparent prior convictions or other pending charges, but 3rd District Court Judge Barry Lawrence ruled the man would constitute a “substantial danger to any other individual or to the community.”
Charging documents cited the “serious nature” of the alleged crimes and indicated that the man has another child in Georgia, where prosecutors worried he’d flee if released.
The father’s initial appearance is scheduled for Thursday at 1 p.m.
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