Accused of pointing a .223-caliber rifle at a grocery store in Buffalo, Wyoming, and firing a few shots in the air just before engaging police in a tense standoff, a local man now faces one felony charge and three misdemeanors.
Edward Charles Salazar, 28, has been charged with one count of making terroristic threats, which carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and $5,000 in fines, plus reckless endangering (up to one year in jail and $750 in fines), interference with police (up to one year and $1,000) and breach of peace (up to six months and $750).
His case rose Friday to the felony-level Johnson County District Court.
‘Drop The Gun’
Buffalo Police Department Officers Brian McCarter and Joshua Morrison, and Johnson County Sheriff’s Deputies Dave Herth and Nick Tegdesch responded on the evening of Aug. 17 to Salazar’s home on North Desmet Avenue on a report of Salazar “going crazy and carrying a gun,” according to an evidentiary affidavit filed in Salazar’s case.
They didn't know at the time that Salazar had just been firing his rifle in the air, and had pointed it in the direction of Lynn's Superfoods, a grocery store across the street, the affidavit alleges.
The man’s wife had called 911, saying Salazar grabbed a gun after she told him she was calling the police, that she had locked herself into a bathroom in her home along with her 2-year-old son, and that she’d heard gunshots while self-barricading, says the document.
Herth arrived on scene first and tried to talk with Salazar, who was in front of the home carrying what the affidavit calls “an AR-style rifle.”
McCarter arrived a short while later, parked his patrol vehicle in the street with its lights blazing to block off traffic, and discovered Salazar holding the rifle while yelling at Herth, reportedly.
The affidavit says McCarter grabbed his own patrol rifle and gave Salazar commands to drop the gun, but Salazar didn’t comply with the commands.
The document says Salazar didn’t want to put the gun down because he didn’t have his phone.
Bring Him Here
Salazar asked for others to be brought to the scene: another man whom he’d been visiting earlier that day, and off-duty police officer Kevin Valentine and Deputy Randy Brown.
A deputy called for the man Salazar wanted to see, and the man arrived just before 8 p.m. Salazar wanted the man to come inside, and said he’d put down the gun if the man did so, says the document.
Fearing for the other man’s safety, agents wouldn’t let him go into the home with Salazar. But they did let him talk with Salazar and try to calm him down. That didn’t work, the affidavit says.
Getting Tased
Salazar, who had been pacing across his porch and up and down it, walked down the porch toward the driveway.
McCarter strode to the front door to stop Salazar from entering the home; Morrison and McCarter both “held lethal coverage” while Herth grabbed his taser, says the document.
Salazar started walking back toward the front door. Herth tased him in the back, reportedly causing his body to lock up and fall, stomach-first, to the ground. The document says Salazar dropped the rifle as he fell.
McCarter tossed the rifle out of reach. Morrison jumped onto Salazar and handcuffed one of his hands, but Salazar stashed his other hand under his body, the document says.
Tegdesch used a “one hand hammer fist punch” on Salazar’s head, and the agents were then able to free his other hand and get him into handcuffs.
Looking at the rifle, McCarter learned it was a .223-caliber with a 30-round Pmag magazine, in the fire position with one round in the chamber, plus two more in the magazine, the officer wrote later in the affidavit.
Salazar was still facedown and yelling obscenities, and reeking of alcohol, McCarter observed.
Herth and McCarter entered the home and found Salazar’s wife and toddler locked in the bathroom in the center of the house, both uninjured.
The wife said she and her husband had been at a local bar since noon, and that Salazar had been drinking heavily, the document says.
They went next to the house of the man Salazar had wanted to see during the standoff. Salazar had reportedly continued drinking at that house.
Let’s Go Camping
Salazar’s wife and friend eventually took away his alcohol, but Salazar wanted to take his three children camping at Lake De Smet, the affidavit says.
The wife reportedly said no to that and wouldn’t let Salzar drive because he was so drunk. She had offered to drop him off so he could camp by himself, but he became enraged and ultimately flipped over a washing machine and punched a hole in the wall, says the document.
The affidavit says the wife tried to lock herself in a room, but Salazar broke through the door, so she called the cops on him.
He told her he was going to go “suicide by cop,” then reportedly grabbed his rifle and went into the kitchen.
His wife then locked herself in the bathroom, called police and heard the shots, says the document.
She later told police Salazar did not physically attack her at any point, though he “got up in her face.”
Camera Shows
Agents reviewed footage from the family’s front-porch camera, which allegedly shows Salazar and his family coming home at about 7:45 p.m., to the sound of Salazar screaming at his wife and calling her “stupid.”
A second clip shows Salazar walking toward his vehicle, shouldering his rifle with the muzzle pointed northeast toward Fort Street in a tactical, “scanning” walk, the affidavit says, adding that the muzzle was aimed toward grocery store Lynn’s Superfoods, across the street.
“Salazar placed members of the public in danger of death or serious bodily injury by doing so,” says the affidavit. “It appears he tactically shouldered the rifle in the ready position in anticipation of someone coming to his home.”
The street is one of the busiest thoroughfares in Buffalo, the document adds.
A neighbor told police that around this time, Salazar fired about five rounds into the air while spewing foul language, says the document.
Salazar’s attorney Jordan Jennifer Camino did not immediately respond to a Wednesday voicemail request for comment.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
