BOUNTIFUL, Utah — A suspect has been arrested after the man allegedly used a knife to threaten a postal employee before stealing a mail truck belonging to the U.S. Postal Service and then barricading himself inside.
The man was later identified as 32-year-old Wilber Hernandez and was arrested on one count of aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony.
Salt Lake City police say they received a call just before 1 p.m. Monday about a man trying to open car doors in the area of 1600 West Northwood Avenue. As officers were responding, they received information that the suspect threatened the postal employee before stealing the truck.
After leaving Salt Lake City, Hernandez was involved in a hit-and-run incident in Bountiful and later attempted to run over two people in the parking lot of a nearby tire store.
Officers later found Hernandez still driving the mail truck at the end of a dead-end road before he tried to evade police and hit another truck on the roadway. He was later stopped after officers blocked in the truck from the front and back, but police say he rammed one of the police vehicles with the mail truck.
When the truck was later stopped near 500 West Porter Lane, Hernandez displayed his knife to officers who fired their taser weapons at him multiple times. Hernandez then removed the taser probes from his body and barricaded himself in the truck while throwing objects at police.
Police said he also had an object that resembled a gun, which turned out to be a shovel that he was brandishing as if it were a rifle.
After about an hour of attempting to communicate with the suspect, Hernandez was taken into custody. Police said they used less-lethal ammunition in their attempts to resolve the situation. He eventually surrendered, but allegedly bit one of the officers on the hand while they were helping to prevent his head from hitting the pavement during the arrest.
While the postal employee was not harmed in the incident, a few officers sustained minor injuries.
The Salt Lake City Police Department, Bountiful City Police, Centerville Police, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and other law enforcement agencies are investigating the theft.
"Unfortunately, our employee experienced a challenging situation today. Thankfully, the employee is safe," a USPS spokesperson said in a statement. "During this sensitive time, our primary focus is on offering support to our employee. We are also providing counseling and assistance to help them navigate through this experience."
Tishina Lukenbach’s Centerville neighborhood located just east of I-15 saw quite the commotion.
“I'm used to hearing sirens from the freeway and things like that, but they were closer, and my dog started freaking out,” she said. “I kind of peeked my head out the window and saw multiple of them, looked out my kitchen window, saw him pulling through the parking lot, and that's where they boxed him in.”
Lukenbach was scared she might be in danger.
“I saw him be tased, and he was pulling out the taser and then started throwing mail out the truck,” she said. “I was like, ‘Okay, this is more serious than what I thought.’”
"We feel fortunate that this incident did not result in serious injury to the suspect, officers, or any innocent persons," the Centerville Police Department added. "Officers on scene used restraint and drew on many hours of training to resolve the incident without loss of life."
