CEDAR CITY — Iron County Metro SWAT officers arrested a man in Cedar City on Thursday evening who had allegedly forced his way into a Parowan residence and assaulted someone the night before.
Christian Gonzalez-Diaz, 31, was booked into Iron County Jail on suspicion of one count of aggravated burglary, a first-degree felony, and one count of assault, a class B misdemeanor.
Parowan Police Chief Addison Adams told Cedar City News that the initial incident took place in Parowan on Wednesday when officers responded to a call from a neighbor about a disorderly person.
“We went there and we found out that the two men had pushed their way into the house and beat up a resident,” Adams said.
The resident was able to positively identify Gonzalez-Diaz as one of the suspects, said Adams, adding that the second suspect has yet to be positively identified.
“We had a first name only, so we weren’t able to 100% determine who that was yet,” he said.
As for Gonzalez-Diaz, Adams said officers couldn’t locate him that first night but eventually determined where he likely was staying in Cedar City.
“The following night, we were able to find fairly sure where he was at, through a traffic stop,” he said. “We surrounded the house and started writing the warrant. SWAT got called out, and by the time SWAT got there, he had given up and come out peacefully.”
Following the arrest, which took place in a trailer park on 600 West at about 500 North in Cedar City, Gonzalez-Diaz was then taken into custody without incident and was booked into jail shortly after 9:30 p.m. The investigation is ongoing, Adams said.
A third charge that appears on Gonzalez-Diaz’s current jail booking information is listed as assault on a police officer, a class A misdemeanor. However, Utah court records indicate that charge is an older count for which Gonzalez-Diaz was convicted in 2020. He has since allegedly violated the terms of his probation, thereby triggering a warrant on an order to show cause in that unrelated case.
This report is based on statements from law enforcement officials 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.
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