ST. GEORGE — Police responded to a man brandishing a weapon outside Pizza Hut and the Dollar Tree store on Sunset Boulevard in St. George Friday afternoon.
Multiple witnesses at the scene said the man kept putting his hand on a holstered gun. Police arrested the suspect at the scene and took him in for questioning.
Luis Murillo, who works right across from the Dollar Tree at the Grease Monkey auto repair shop, said around 4:40 p.m. he saw “really weird” activity in front of the Dollar Tree.
“The thing that threw me off was people pulled off and immediately backed off,” Murillo said. “He was just holding his gun, then kept holding it again. He wasn’t waving it around.”
Witnesses said workers and patrons inside the Dollar Tree had to lay on the ground.
Murillo said within five minutes St. George Police arrived, with some carrying rifles.
Another witness working at the Grease Monkey, Kody Hendrickson, took video as police arrived and arrested a suspect. The video, seen above, shows several officers with rifles moving in. At that moment, Hendrickson said the man threw his gun away and obeyed commands to lie on the ground.
Police identified the suspect as Lorenzo Pleydele of Chino, California.
He is being held in custody and has been booked on six charges – aggravated assault with a weapon, interference with arrest, possession of a firearm while under a restriction, brandishing a weapon, intoxication and disorderly conduct.
Portions of video from the scene, courtesy of Kody Hendrickson, can be seen at the top of this story.
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