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Man taken into custody after allegedly refusing to leave WVC home

Posted at 9:05 PM, Feb 14, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-14 23:06:08-05

WEST VALLEY CITY — A man was taken into custody after allegedly going into a home in Kearns and a home in West Valley Tuesday.

Shortly before 2 p.m., Unified Police Lt. Brian Lohrke, said Kearns officers were dispatched to 5716 South 4585 West where Matthew Garcia, 31, was threatening the people inside the house.

Garcia was armed with a silver handgun, police said, and was seen leaving the house in a silver car.

Police were able to find Garcia in another home in West Valley. According to police, the residences of the West Valley home were able to escape and indicated to officers that Garcia was the only one left in the house.

According to Lohrke, police made contact with Garcia and asked him to come out of the house. When Garcia allegedly refused, police set up a tactical team.

“Because he was considered armed and dangerous, our tactical team was called out to the scene,” Lohrke said.

But once the tactical team was ready to proceed, Garcia gave up, police said.

Lohrke said he opened the door, walked out, got down onto his knees and was taken into custody.

This is a huge inconvenience for the community, Lohrke said, but this is was the best outcome to the situation.

“If we can take it a little slow, talk to him on the phone and he gives up peacefully that’s absolutely how we want to end these ordeals. So with Mr. Garcia in custody no one is hurt, everyone gets to go home. That’s how we like to end this.” Lohrke said.

Police are conducting post-operation interviews to see what exactly was the cause of the two incidences, according to Lohrke.