ST. GEORGE — A Clearfield man was arrested Thursday for making threats to shoot customers at an unspecified Walmart location.

Milton Bowcutt, 26, was located near LaVerkin during a multi-agency search of the area. He was arrested on charges of one class A misdemeanor count of unlawful possession/purchase/transfer of a dangerous weapon, one class B misdemeanor count of threat of violence and one count of possession of a controlled substance, marijuana.

Sgt. Nate Abbott with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office told St. George News the charges stem from an incident that began Thursday at about 10 p.m., when law enforcement officials were notified by the Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office that Bowcutt had made threats to shoot customers at a Walmart store and then commit “suicide by cop.”

Local police were also advised by Box Elder authorities that Bowcutt had been tracked in the Washington County area.

An alert that included Bowcutt’s description and the vehicle he was driving was dispatched out to police throughout Washington County.

A short time later, an officer with the  Springdale-Zion Canyon Department of Public Safety spotted the suspect’s vehicle in Rockville and began following Bowcutt. Several Washington County Sheriff’s Deputies also responded to the area.

“With that type of situation where there are so many unknowns, it’s better to have backup there,” Abbott said.

With guns drawn, deputies made a felony stop of the vehicle on state Route 9 just north of LaVerkin and instructed Bowcutt to exit the vehicle, which he did before deputies took him into custody without further incident.

He was transported and booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility where he remains Friday on $10,000 cash-only bail.

Abbott said the Springdale officer did a great job in spotting the suspect so quickly, adding that the Sheriff’s Office is “just glad it ended favorably.”

Casey Staheli, public spokesperson for Walmart, told St. George News that store associates receive training to deal with this type of situation and other emergency events the stores may be confronted with and commended the efforts on the part of law enforcement for finding the suspect so quickly.

“We appreciate the vigilance and quick actions of local law enforcement agencies in preventing this individual from making it near our stores,” Staheli said, adding that they were glad the employee training procedures were not necessary.

According to several comments posted on social media, the defendant wrote of a recent loss and appeared to be despondent.

This report is based on statements from police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.

St. George News reporters Markee Kae Pickett and Jeff Richards contributed to this report.

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