Deputies chase ends with suspect held at gunpoint in Snyderville Basin condo

A quiet Thursday evening in Snyderville Basin shattered when a man fleeing deputies crossed apartment balconies at Canyon Creek Club and landed inside John Santy’s condo, forcing Santy to hold him at gunpoint until law enforcement arrived.

Santy said he had planned to stay in for the night when, shortly after 5 p.m. on May 28, he heard a loud bang and then his roommate screaming from the kitchen area. When he came out of the bathroom, he found a strange man inside the apartment, bleeding and moving around the kitchen. Santy said he drew a gun, ordered the man to the ground and kept him there until Summit County Sheriff’s Office deputies took custody.

The suspect had already drawn a heavy response. The call came in as a report of a man behaving violently and threatening people with scissors at Canyon Creek Apartments in the Snyderville Basin, tied to a domestic dispute involving the suspect and his girlfriend. Deputies arrived just after 5 p.m., and the man fled on foot. Deputies used less-lethal beanbag rounds three times before he made his way through the complex, crossed from one apartment balcony to another and entered Santy’s unit through an open balcony door.

KUTV and ABC4 reported that investigators said the victim in the domestic case described multiple prior domestic-violence incidents involving the suspect, and deputies were seeking charges for previous alleged aggravated assaults. The man was later transported to an area hospital for treatment of injuries related to the beanbag rounds before being booked into Summit County Jail, where charges were still pending.

Santy said video from cameras he had installed to keep an eye on his dog helped document part of the confrontation. He also said his background as a former EMT, along with family ties to law enforcement and firefighting, shaped how he reacted in the moment. Santy added that he was dealing with back problems from an injury and surgery complications, which made the physical encounter even more startling.

The scene at 900 Bitner Road, near Kimball Junction, underscored how fast a domestic call can spill into a neighboring home and turn a condo complex into an active crime scene. In a dense residential setting like Canyon Creek Club, the episode showed how quickly residents can be forced into split-second shelter-in-place decisions, with the line between police pursuit and a deadly confrontation narrowing inside an ordinary apartment building.