By Erin Alberty
The Salt Lake Tribune
WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — A seven-hour police standoff in a residential neighborhood here ended relatively peacefully late Tuesday night.
Police were able to talk two of three robbery suspects out of a house near 4940 West 3640 South and give themselves up, said West Valley City police Capt. Steve Sandquist. The third made a break for freedom but was apprehended in a neighboring yard.
The odds were decidedly against the fleeing suspect as officers from the West Valley City and West Jordan police departments, the Utah Highway Patrol, the FBI and the Salt Lake County SWAT team had surrounded the house and taken positions throughout the neighborhood, Sandquist said.
Up to a dozen homes were evacuated because of the standoff, which began around 4 p.m., he said.
But Sandquist said the incident that led to the standoff occurred about an hour earlier when Premier Services Credit Union, 2250 S. Redwood Road, was robbed by two men. Investigators got a description of the car the suspects escaped in and tracked it down to the West Valley City neighborhood, he said.
Police were staking out the neighborhood, when the suspects’ vehicle pulled up to a home. Three individuals were taken into custody as soon as they exited the vehicle. Police then learned that there were other suspects inside the house, and the standoff commenced, Sandquist said.
Negotiations with the suspects in the house were conducted with a bullhorn, and the standoff was resolved around 11 p.m., he said
Sandquist said authorities feared there might have been a meth lab in the house, but no lab was found after a sweep of the home. Six people were taken into custody - one woman and six males, one of whom may be a juvenile, he said.
Copyright 2008 The Salt Lake Tribune