SALT LAKE CITY (News4Utah)- It started with a 911 call from a panicked woman and ended with a man dead.
“My boyfriend just broke all of the glass in the house and he’s punched me a bunch in the face and now he’s threatening to kill himself,” the woman said to the dispatcher.
Capt. Lance VanDongen with Salt Lake City Police Department said the woman was calling police from a neighbor’s house.
“I just told him to leave and he said ‘I’m gonna leave’ and he went downstairs and I heard a bunch of glass break. And then he came upstairs and I said ‘What is wrong with you?’ and he said ‘Do you want to see somebody die?’ and I said ‘No! Why are you threatening to kill yourself?’ and I said ‘Just leave!’ And I kicked him and so he just punched me over and over,” the woman explained to the dispatcher.
When police arrived to the home on Princeton Ave. Capt. VanDongen said they were prepared for a highly unpredictable and emotionally charged incident.
The suspect, identified as Delorean Pikyavit, 32, had a lengthy criminal history including drug charges, several DUI’s, interfering with an arresting officer, and child endangerment.
“At the time of this call, Pikyavit was a wanted parole fugitive who had walked away from Fortitude Treatment Center,” Capt. VanDongen said.
Officers arrived to the scene just before 12:30 p.m. They learned Pikyavit had followed the victim to the neighbor’s house. Capt. VanDongen officers tried to talk to him but he took off and barricaded himself inside the Princeton Ave. home.
“Officers made multiple attempts to contact Pikyavit and observed him holding two weapons,” VanDongen said.
The weapons were later identified as a long knife and half of a pair of scissors.
That’s when the SWAT call was initiated.
During negotiations Capt. VanDongen said the suspect made comments about “going out with a bang” and “not going back to jail”.
Video released on Wednesday shows the incident unfolding (View with caution).
At one point Pikayvit is seen outside of the house holding the weapons in his hand asking officers to shoot him.
“Over the course of about a minute and a half officers commanded [him] to ‘sit down’ over 9 times and to ‘drop the weapon’ over 11 times, in addition to other commands from officers which he did not respond to,” said VanDongen.
Video shows Pikayvit take a step off the porch after several warnings to sit down. Two officers immediately fired. Pikayvit was shot and killed with a round from one of the weapons.
Per protocol with an officer-involved shooting, an outside police agency — West Valley City Police Department, is handling the investigation.
If you or someone else is in immediate danger, or in an emergency, please call 9-1-1 immediately
