Utah dad dodges bullets while defending kids after alleged assault
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Dan Rascon, KSL TV
MILLCREEK, Utah (KSL TV) — A Millcreek father said he feels lucky after he was shot at three times by a man who hit his two sons in the face, according to police.
The dramatic scene was all captured on home surveillance camera video, which shows the gunman, who police identified as 61-year-old Richard Lindem, standing in the middle of the street.
Lindem then stops two boys who were riding mini motorcycles in the neighborhood. The boys were the 6- and 9-year-old sons of 39-year-old Chris Ollerton, who was outside waxing his car.
In the video, Lindem appears to walk up to the 9-year-old, scold him and then smack him across the face. He then walked over to the 6-year-old and did the same thing.
That’s about the time Ollerton saw what was happening.
“I saw this man pull back and punch my six-year-old son,” Ollerton said. “I wanted to beat the crap out of him. When I was heading towards him I had full intentions of tackling the guy and smashing his head into the street. I had to think of my kids’ safety.”
According to the video, as Ollerton approached Lindem, he reached behind his back and pulling out a gun, which he then pointed at Ollerton.
“I just turned to my boys, just run, hurry, run home run in the house lock the door and call 911,” he said. “I was just yelling, dude it’s not worth it, nobody needs to die, nobody needs to go to prison, it’s not worth it. Just trying to diffuse the situation…He was just yelling at me saying we are destroying the neighborhood letting my kids ride their motorcycles around.”
Ollerton said Lindem eventually put the gun down and started walking away. Ollerton said he pulled his phone out and tried to record the situation for police.
That’s when he said Lindem got upset and shot at him three times.
“I was looking at him right in the eyes,” Ollerton said. “He pointed it right at me when he took the shot. He intended to hit me. At this point, I’m like ‘holy crap’ so I started to run backward but I’m trying to keep an eye while I’m running backward to take cover and he fired two more shots. The third one I swear it couldn’t have been more than a foot from my head. I heard it whiz past my head.”
Lindem, who lives on the next street over in the Millcreek area of 4300 South and 300 East, then barricaded himself in his home. A swat team later took him into custody after a very long standoff.
“I’m just happy my boys weren’t hurt. I’m still able to be here and be their dad,” Ollerton said. “Never in a million years would I imagine being in that situation.”