SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) – A young couple waiting for TRAX train spoke to Thursday’s bomb threat suspect in downtown Salt Lake City. After a few short minutes they realized they needed to call 911.
"He started talking about how he had the DEA Agents at his house or something," said Mark Benson, spoke to bomb threat suspect.
"...started rambling off, just screaming obscenities," said Merilee Allred, spoke to bomb threat suspect.
Mark Benson and his girl Merilee Allred were the only ones who talked to Thursday night's bomb threat suspect at the Gallivan Center TRAX station.
"I literally sat five feet away from him from my right," said Benson.
If you look closely at video from the evening you can see him in his white shirt, sitting on the TRAX platform with his back to the camera.
"At first I was almost going to laugh at the guy it didn't seem to make any sense until he said detonation device," Benson said.
"He had a detonator in his hand and said things are about to get real," said Allred.
"I was scared. We got out of there immediately," said Benson.
"I said thanks for the warning and we just took off," Allred said.
"As we were walking across the street I just had this feeling, I just felt like I need to call somebody," said Benson.
"It wasn't until he called 911 and started describing everything, that things started to become real," said Allred.
For nearly 10 minutes Benson and Allred stayed and watched the suspect until police arrived. They said he seemed…
"...disheveled, really jittery," she said.
"He just kept like getting on his phone and getting off as soon as we went across the street, he started walking in circles just on the phone like he was yelling at someone talking to someone yelling," said Benson.
After police took him out, destroyed his backpack and rushed the man to the hospital. Benson said it sunk in how dangerous the situation actually became, and said he’s glad he called 911. He hopes other do people do the same thing.
"If you see anything like this don't hesitate at all because I'm looking at this ‘oh my gosh, what if he does have a bomb,’ I think people should keep a watchful eye for things to happen," Benson said.
