A Utah man had a hours-long stand-off with a SWAT team after allegedly hitting two children in the face and shooting at their father three times, authorities say.
Around 3.10pm on Sunday, the Unified Police Department responded to an urgent call in the Millcreek area.
Richard Lindem, who was 'heavily intoxicated' when officers found him, is accused of child abuse, aggravated assault, felony discharge of a firearm and reckless endangerment.
The incident was captured on a neighbor's surveillance footage.
In the video, nine-year-old Ryder and six-year-old Gavin, can be seen riding their dirt bikes up a hill on Troy Way.
As the children get closer to the surveillance camera, an incensed Lindem runs into the middle of the road and flags them down.
Lindem approaches Ryder first, leaning down until the two of them are eye level and then smacking the child across the face.
The 61-year-old then goes to Gavin and punches the child several times in the head.
A neighbor's surveillance footage captured the incident that occurred in Millcreek area of Utah on Sunday afternoon
After approaching 9-year-old Ryder (left) and smacking him across the face, Lindem(pictured) punches 6-year-old Gavin (left) in the head several times
At that moment, 39-year-old Chris Ollerton, who had been outside waxing his car, notices what's happening with his sons.
He told KSL TV he was outraged at what he saw and raced to protect his children.
'I saw this man pull back and punch my six-year-old son. I wanted to beat the crap out of him,' Ollerton said.
'When I was heading towards him I had full intentions of tackling the guy and smashing his head into the street. I had to think of my kids’ safety.'
Ollerton races full speed towards the scene and prepares to confront Lindem, but the suspect had another idea in mind.
Lindem suddenly pulls a gun from his back pocket and swiftly points it at Ollerton as his children watch nearby.
'I just turned to my boys; "Just run, hurry, run home run in the house lock the door and call 911",' Ollerton said.
'I was just yelling, "dude it’s not worth it, nobody needs to die, nobody needs to go to prison, it’s not worth it." Just trying to diffuse the situation.'
Ollerton says Lindem was yelling that the children's bikes were 'destroying the neighborhood.'
The boy's father Chris Ollerton, 39, (far right) was waxing his car down the street and raced towards the incident when he sees Lindem hit his children
The father was eventually able to calm Lindem down and convinced him to return home.
Ollerton pulled out his phone to record the situation for authorities, but that only angered Lindem.
This time, Lindem shot at Ollerton three times.
Ollerton said: 'He pointed it right at me when he took the shot. He intended to hit me. At this point, I’m like "holy crap" so I started to run backward but I’m trying to keep an eye while I’m running backward to take cover and he fired two more shots.'
'The third one - I swear it couldn’t have been more than a foot from my head. I heard it whiz past my head.'
After Ollerton (right) confronts Lindem about hitting his sons, Lindem (middle) pulls out a gun and points it at the father
At one point, Lindem (left) shoots at Ollerton (right) three times before barricading himself inside him home
Thankfully, no on in the violent situation was hurt.
Lindem proceeded to barricade himself inside his home before authorities arrived.
Local authorities attempted to remove Lindem from his home, but were forced to call a SWAT team when the man would not leave.
As SWAT was approaching the scene, a gun shot was reportedly heard from inside the home.
After an standoff that last more than five hours, Lindem gave himself up to authorities with no incident.
Post a Comment