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SALT LAKE CITY — An 8 ½ hour standoff with a man believed to be armed ended peacefully Thursday morning.
Arturo Chavez, 32, surrendered without further incident about 9:20 a.m. after holding SWAT team members and U.S. Marshals at bay the entire morning.
About 1 a.m. Thursday, members of the Joint Criminal Apprehension Team received information that a known gang member, currently wanted on a $25,000 warrant for a drug related crime, was at a home near 1900 South and West Temple.
JCAT members set up surveillance around the house, watched as a woman believed to be the man's girlfriend walked into the home, and then observed the man inside, said supervisory deputy U.S. marshal Jim Phelps.
The U.S. Marshals knocked on the door but got no answer. After knocking louder and identifying themselves as officers they still got no answer, Phelps said.
One officer then spotted through a window, the man crawling to an area behind a couch and retrieve what he thought was a handgun, said Phelps.
"When our officers spotted the weapon, this changed the whole scenario for us," Phelps said.
The JCAT members kicked in the front door and broke windows around the home to get a better view and again order him to surrender.
When they still received no response, Phelps said the situation became an armed barricaded suspect and the JCAT team backed away and called the Salt Lake City Police Department's SWAT team for assistance.
Officers shot several pepper balls into the home, or little balls fills with pepper spray, to try to get him to come out, but to no avail.
Family members then tried talking to the man on a cellphone.
The man's girlfriend remained in the house, but officials said she was there on her own free will and it was not a hostage situation.
Just before 8:30 a.m., police fired tear gas into the residence. The woman came out of the house but the man remained inside. The woman was questioned by law enforcers, and Phelps said she was cooperating with them.
About an hour later, Chavez also came out and surrendered.
A check of Utah court records showed Chavez has a history of mostly drug related convictions.
In 2010, he was found guilty of an amended charge of felony drug possession with intent to distribute. But his current warrant was issued on Aug. 27 when he failed to appear for sentencing.
Police also say he's a documented member of the Diamond Street Gang.
Some of Arturo's family members showed up at the scene of the standoff Thursday morning. Chris Gonzales said Arturo, his uncle, is a good man and is not dangerous.
"He's not a bad guy," he said. "He's got a family that loves him. We all have our problems. That's it."
When police fired tear gas into the home, Chavez' brother sprinted towards the house. He says he thought his brother was being hurt.
Officers quickly detained him. "We had to put him down hard and fast," said Phelps. "We're not going to mess around on stuff with that. We don't allow family members to mess around with us."
Police say Chavez's family helped them talk Chavez out of the house -- promising him he would get to hug his child before he was taken to jail.
"If that's what it takes to get him out, we're going to do that," Phelps said.
Written by Pat Reavy with contributions from Shara Park.
