By Erin Alberty
The Salt Lake Tribune
SALT LAKE CITY — A dispute between a 45-year-old man and the 11-year-old daughter of his girlfriend Tuesday afternoon led to a six-hour standoff with a SWAT team.
The man was arguing with the girl in the front yard of their home, 536 N. Dexter (840 West) in Salt Lake City, around 4 p.m. when neighbors reported seeing him “get physical” with her, said Salt Lake City Police spokesman Jared Wihongi. Neighbors told police the man threatened them with a knife when they tried to intervene.
The man retreated into the house and would not submit to SWAT team negotiators until about 10 p.m. An ailing woman in her 70s — an aunt of the man’s girlfriend — was in the house with him throughout the standoff, but there was no indication she was harmed, police said.
A litter of pit-bull puppies also was in the house with the man, police said. Police found a shotgun on the porch when they arrived but said there is no indication it ever was involved in the alleged disputes with the girl or the neighbors.
Copyright 2007 The Sal Lake Tribune