Gunlock man arrested after allegedly grabbing deputy’s rifle

Stock image, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Grabbing the barrel of a rifle belonging to a law enforcement officer is one way to earn a trip straight to jail.

One man allegedly grabbed an officer’s rifle when deputies from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office responded to an incident at his home in the Gunlock area of Washington County Sunday.

Daniel Keith Walker, 53, of Gunlock, was allegedly damaging some property that belonged to one of his neighbors when the sheriff’s office was called.

He’s also accused of breaking his neighbor’s cell phone in the incident.

Daniel Keith Walker, 53, of Gunlock, booking photo, Nov. 19, 2018 | Photo courtesy of Washington County Sheriff’s Office, St. George News

When officers arrived at the home to arrest Walker, they brought rifles because they didn’t know if there were any guns in the Walker’s possession, said Graham Hancock, Washington County Sheriff’s deputy.

“He was in his home where officers knew he does have firearms,” Hancock said. “He’s open about that from incidents when we’ve spoken to him before, so officers were just being prepared when they brought their firearms.”

Walker allegedly grabbed the barrel of one of the deputies’ rifles and held on so long, Hancock said he had to physically removed by other officers.

After officers got the situation under control, they arrested Walker without further incident and brought him to Purgatory Correctional Facility. He was charged with a first-degree felony for disarming a peace officer. He was also charged with several misdemeanors for interfering with an arresting officer, assault, criminal mischief and damaging a communication device.

Walker’s bail was set at $25,000. At the time of this report, he remains in custody at the jail.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.

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7 Comments

  • hiker75 November 20, 2018 at 7:55 am

    Daniel, you are very lucky you did not get shot!

    • Real Life November 20, 2018 at 10:15 am

      If this had happened in “the hood”, something tells me that he would have not been so lucky.

      • Carpe Diem November 20, 2018 at 11:05 am

        People in “the hood” are not shot all the time.

      • KR567 November 21, 2018 at 5:40 am

        Wow only people in ‘the hood’ get shot ?

  • Carpe Diem November 20, 2018 at 8:06 am

    OOOPS! First degree felony – he wont own any of his guns any longer. They’ll be gone by the time he bails out. Lucky he wasn’t shot… great restraint by officers.

    • tcrider November 20, 2018 at 11:48 am

      actually, all he has to do is go to this web site
      and he can buy all the guns he wants without a background check
      https://utahgunexchange.com/

      • mesaman November 20, 2018 at 8:43 pm

        You mean criminals can buy guns? Who’d a ever thunk that.

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