Two men with numerous weapons who were allegedly on their way to the protests in Salt Lake City were arrested Monday. Four weapons — including an AK-47 and an Uzi with a silencer attached — were recovered from a vehicle, Vainuku said.
In the home of Yuri Neves Silva, 27, of West Valley City, more weapons were found and seized.
Information about a potential motive was not immediately available, but police believe the two were headed to the protests to cause trouble.
“We had every reason to believe that’s what they intended to do,” Vainuku said.
Silva had posted “multiple threats of violence against police, specifically Salt Lake City police and West Valley City police” over social media and “encouraged others to take up arms against police as well, and had reportedly listed the names and addresses of specific officers to be targeted,” she said.
Silva was arrested for investigation of making a terroristic threat. Police say Silva was making multiple posts about harming police officers and was seen in one picture holding a gun, according to a police affidavit.
That's pretty scary once you read about it and give how quickly unrest started up in SLC on Saturday, I would've hated to have seen what would've happened if there was a mass shooting on top of it. Protestors, Guardsmen, and police officers would've all likely been killed in the chaos.
