Summit County deputies arrest rifle-wielding man

Deputies took an 18-year-old man into custody Tuesday after he fired his hunting rifle in a parking lot near Bald Mountain in the Uintah Mountains.

Hikers called police about 11:30 a.m. after they saw the man, near mile marker 29 on State Route 150, also known as the Mirror Lake Highway, yelling and firing rounds into a wooded area, said Summit County Sheriff's Lt. John Lange.

Deputies called in a SWAT team and a Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter when a caller said the man went up a mountain trail, Lang said. Officers used a public announcement system in the helicopter to warn hikers on the mountain to stay away from the immediate area.

Officers found the man and talked to him through a PA system in one of their vehicles. He was clearly upset, "but he dropped his hunting rifle and sat down with his head down for quite some time," Lange said.

By 1:30 p.m., deputies took him in for questioning. They also continued to search for any hikers he may have threatened, Lange said.

No one was injured.

mmcfall@sltrib.com