Residents of one South Salt Lake City neighborhood are breathing a sigh of relief as a “guy who comes around here with a machete and stuff” has finally been stopped.
That “guy,” 68-year-old David Anthony Trujillo, had been lurking in the area, especially at night, sometimes carrying a large knife. Nobody knew where he lived, or if he even had an address – he was known to have stayed in various nearby hotels and motels.
“He’s been terrorizing people in the neighborhood,” said a resident who was within earshot when Trujillo was shot by a homeowner. “We’ve been scared to go outside at night.”
The shooting itself occurred around 8:30 on a Friday evening. Strange sounds in the (fenced and padlocked) backyard led the homeowner to investigate, at which point the confrontation with the knife-wielding man “escalated very quickly,” according to police public information officer Gary Keller.
The homeowner, who the police say has been very cooperative, was one of the first to call 911. Although the case has not yet been ruled as self-defense, he hasn’t yet been charged.
It’s good to know the neighbors are speaking out in support, and even better that the homeowner wasn’t defenseless when this nutcase trespassed on his property.
It’s nice to have good neighbors.
It’s not good to have neighbors like these:
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2018/06/staff-writer/burglary-victims-clueless-neighbors-say-he-shouldve-shot-him-in-the-foot/
Even better to have no neighbors, and a good shovel
I do like your style.
I have a wood chipper.
Hmmm, memories of “Fargo.”
remember to freeze the body first. otherwise it will just gum up your chipper blades…
“remember to freeze the body first. otherwise it will just gum up your chipper blades…”
TickTalk, where were you when I needed that advice when my daughter was dating dirtbags?
And you’re right, the machine gets all gummed up. And pre-spraying with WD-40 doesn’t help. Thankfully, my daughter is now married to a really great guy.
Diesel fuel should work and is much cheaper. I use it to keep the snow from sticking to the bucket of my backhoe and it works great.
Or a backhoe
Remember to have a hole (or two) dug BEFORE anything goes down:)
Nicky A lot of holes in the desert, and a lot of problems are buried in those holes. But you gotta do it right. I mean, you gotta have the hole already dug before you show up with a package in the trunk. Otherwise, you’re talking about a half-hour to forty-five minutes worth of digging. And who knows who’s gonna come along in that time Pretty soon, you gotta dig a few more holes. You could be there all f***in’ night.
I personally like holes dug near huge! rocks in river beds…dig hole at edge..toss in the ‘issue’ tip 6 ton rock over hole and nature takes it’s course over the next decade or 3???
@Bobo
there are a few places in australia where there are a lot of old long forgotten mine shafts. some problems end up disappearing down them including problem enforcers never to be found
Hungry pigs and hounds
I have a backhoe.
What a waste,- – (singing Jefferson Airplane Silver spoon) while eating lunch.
“He shouldn’t have cruelly shot this mass-killer-in-waiting…”
A very long time ago in a time when Washington State was a very different place, the neighbors of a very small community, were very grateful when US army rangers engage in a firefight with drug sellers, drug users, and drug dealers.
The active-duty soldiers and the enemy civilians fired hundreds of rounds at each other. In the end the civilian drug dealers left the neighborhood and did not return.
I know this probably makes the Libertarians very unhappy. But that small Washington State neighborhood was very grateful to have active duty US army rangers available to do what they do best. And that is protect innocent people and get rid of the bad guys.
And no one was shot. Rangers are great Marksman. So good in fact that they can miss on purpose. And that sometimes is enough to make the enemy go away.
Soldier of Fortune Magazine did an outstanding write-up of this story. And even 60 Minutes dedicated a segment to it after it happened.
I remember that. The full story is worth tracking down.
One minor detail: Hilltop is a neighborhood about a mile west of downtown Tacoma, and Tacoma is the third-largest city in Washington state. Calling it a ‘very small community’ might be accurate in one sense, but it’s a little misleading because most people will assume you mean ‘waaaaay out in the boonies’, not ‘a specific neighborhood in a major metro of ~6M people’.
We can agree to disagree about definition of a “small community”. I wish more people would talk about what happened in Hilltop. Because the Bundy Ranch incident it’s often played up by the anti Liberty people as the Bundy family being just a bunch of crazy people.
But it’s a different story when you’re talking about the average neighborhood in an average American town. It was defended by active-duty soldiers using their personal weapons most likely AR-15 rifles with 20 or 30-round magazines.
Some people might be uncomfortable talking about it because it involved active duty soldiers using guns to fight civilian criminals. (Posse Comitatus Act? The soldiers were off duty and in civilian clothes.) Another group might be upset because drug dealers were being attacked and those people want drugs legalized and the drug dealers left alone. And it doesn’t matter to these groups that the people who lived in those neighborhoods were being terrorized where they lived, and the police were incapable of helping them.
If law-abiding people had the same firepower that the US army rangers had,
certain neighborhoods in Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit, Los Angeles California, and other cities would not have problems with gangs like they have today.
agree. that is precisely how it would go down in those areas. tear the gangs to shreds to where they could no longer function. they get pushed out there, find somewhere else and in the end they would either have to give up crime or leave the country
The shooter is doing the right thing, no matter how much it irks the police. As a good criminal lawyer once advised, “Never talk to the police without an attorney. Nothing you say will help you, and everything you say will be used against you.” In this case, all the homeowner needs to say is that he was investigating noises in his fenced and locked back yard, and that this maniac charged out of the bushes wielding a large knife. HO feared for his life and shot the stranger.Then add, “I would like to s[peak to my attorney before I say anything else.”
Mark N.,
You stated,
I would not recommend that the home owner even say that. Instead, he/she should simply use his/her phone to call 911, request police and an ambulance, report that someone attacked him/her in or at his/her home, and give a basic description of himself/herself. Then hang up.
The police aren’t necessarily your enemy, but they’re certainly not your friend. Call 911, report only the absolute most rudimentary elements of the event, hang up and call your lawyer. When the investigators arrive, explicitly assert your right to remain silent and that you give no consent for searches.
Ask your attorney, but it may be advisable to close doors in your house to rooms unrelated to the crime scene. You don’t want police wandering through your house, seeing this or that, which might become issues in court. Don’t allow them to use your restroom. Give no refreshments. Confine them as best you can, legally, to the crime scene.
If you somehow get tricked into speaking, no matter how irrelevant the topic, be sure to re-assert your right to remain silent. Police have tricked suspects before, who asserted their right, by offering them a breathmint. Suspect said yes, then police questioned him about the crime despite his rights. Court said too bad, so sad. If you speak, you break your own silence and invalidate your previous assertion. So you have to re-assert to prprotect yourself.
Crazy man comes at him with a knife? He gets hero gun owner of the week.
Feel good story of the week.
Got a crazy dude who wanders the neighborhood. My spidey sense always engages when this singing,muttering dancing goofball walks down the street. I DO have extensive experience with crazies living in Chiraq for 6 years and working in a nuthouse 35years ago…sounds like a good shoot.
Another object lesson on the foolishness of bringing a knife to a gun fight. I do have to wonder why the rest of the neighborhood were a bunch of sheep.
They were public school educated, um indoctrinated.
He Protected himself by doing what he had to do. Glad the homeowner is ok and the bad guy is not going to be able to hurt anyone at all anymore
As a retired L.E.O. and CCW instructor if you are involved in a DGU when law enforcement arrives on the scene, repeat, no chant, “Officer, I want to cooperate with your investigation. However, I decline to answer any questions, or make any statements until I have spoken to an attorney.” Then shut the fuck up! This from an L.E.O. that has been, and always will be, a champion of the armed citizen. Because I was, and still are, one of you.
Spot on Paul. I get attorney representatives from my state police association for any incident involving a firearm related incident. It costs me $90 a year, but an absolute necessity. I recommend all CCW permit holders obtain the same thing. I believe the NRA offers such a plan as well as other firearm rights groups. It could easily save your savings and even your house.
Hey Marty! How are you? Grouper and red snapper season open in federal waters. Going out on my brother-in-laws boat out of Crystal River around the 4th, depending on the seas. Come on down to Florida! We love armed citizens and ex-cops down here.
And there’s always the odd amberjack, kingfish, or whatever. After all, it’s the Gulf of Mexico.
You’re killing me. Drove down to Texas last year, Stephenville to be exact. Only 1200 miles each way. Looking at possibility of moving there. Ha. But the trip, done in 7 days, including 2 days going and coming, about crippled me. Took me a month to recover. It’s a true bitch to get old. Our ranch search up to northern Wyoming turned out to be a bust. But that was only 550 miles and wasn’t too hard on me. Maybe, I could figure a way to get to Florida at 500 miles a day. I might be able to handle that. Unfortunately, just like Florida, this is fire season, we live in the forest and I have the fire department to be concerned with. Have a 52,000 acre fire going now, and only 59% contained, just 30 miles from home. I’ve been out on fires previously when my wife got a call to evacuate. Needless to say, she wasn’t a happy camper. Happened twice. I’m no longer a fire fighter due to health. Ended up with Glaucoma, Optometrist told me it wouldn’t be a good idea to be in the heavy smoke. So when I told the county I was stepping down as chief, they talked me into staying on as the dept. administrator. Nothing but paper work, but it does keep me involved and semi busy. The problem is, fire season lasts til the end of September. Winter generally starts in October and goes thru March. Hell, my daughter planted our garden on June 3rd. A few days later it got down to 25 and killed almost everything she planted, which included the plants in the green house. I guess what I’m saying is I have a narrow window to get out of here for more than a week.
Wish I could Paul, but the drive for me would be a killer. When working fugitives, had to fly to many states on extraditions, but never made it to Florida. . Closest I got was Louisiana. That was prior to the VCTF, when the feds took care of getting them back to us Trout season up here, except for stream fishing, due to the spawning, but even that opens up next month. I do miss the ocean fishing being from San Diego, the size of the fish compared to these trout, wow! Likewise, we welcome gun folks here, and I always enjoy visiting with other retired LEO’s. I realize you have elders to take care of, and I really respect it for you. But, the offer stands.
Seems like a good shoot, but on the other hand, how long had this been going on in the neighborhood? Had anyone called police before about a scary guy with a knife roaming around, or too busy hiding in their homes, afraid to go out?
Too bad that creep couldn’t have found a democrat neighborhood to terrorize.
He could still be alive and have a couple of notches on his belt.
John, unfortunately SLC is very demoncratic. If they had their way, there would be no citizens with guns. The only county in the state where the sheriff refused to sign the letter to obummer letting him know they would not enforce any of his new anti gun laws. You couldn’t recognize the difference between the mayor of san francisco and the mayor of slc.
Wrong house then, huh?
John, like any place in the country, you will find some armed folks. But, your’e right, the waco definitely picked the wrong house. He won’t do it again.
I feel bad for the one who had balls enough to do what needed doing while surrounded by sheeple “to scared to go outside”.
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