WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah - A man was booked into jail and faces several charges after police said he held six missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at gunpoint in West Valley City.
Police said the men were at the Windsor Estates mobile home park at 8 p.m. Thursday for an appointment with 46-year-old Paul Marquez.
A statement of probable cause indicates the missionaries were there for a religious discussion but the man showed them his firearm.
"The victims explained they were trying to leave after the first 10 minutes of being in the residence," the document states. "[Marquez] made several threats that they could not leave and waved the firearm at the 6 victims keeping them at the residence for over an hour."
The missionaries told police the man was drinking and waving the firearm at them, and they said he would point the gun at people if he "did not like what they were talking about."
The missionaries were able to talk the man down, said Lt. Bill Merritt of West Valley City Police, and he let them go. The missionaries left and contacted police.
Merritt said responding officers found three firearms in Marquez's home.
He was booked into jail and faces six counts each of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault and three counts of possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person.
