Utah Dad Tells Child To Shoot At Cops Near McDonald's, Police Say

MIDVALE, UT — A Salt Lake City father pulled a gun when McDonald's workers in Midvale got his order wrong, then later told his 4-year-old child to shoot at police officers who were called by employees, police said.

Sadaat Johnson, 27, became upset around 1:30 p.m. Monday when a drive-thru order he placed was incorrect. He pulled a gun, and McDonald's employees told him to pull forward as they called police.

When Johnson refused repeated police orders to exit the car, officers opened a door and pulled him out, the Unified Police Department said in a news release. That's when a 4-year-old who was in the back seat pointed a gun out of the back window. An officer turned back to the car just in time to swipe the gun to the side as it fired off a round.

Witnesses said the father told the child to shoot, police said. A bullet flew into a McDonald's banner. The officer suffered a minor arm wound.

The officer recognized the shooter was a child and shouted "kid" to the other officers. The child who fired the weapon was in the back seat with a 3-year-old sibling, police said.

The father was taken into custody. He faces charges including felony child abuse and threatening the use of a dangerous weapon.

Sheriff Rosie Rivera issued a statement after the shooting, calling Monday a "sad day for law enforcement and our community."

"To have an adult think it is okay to encourage a 4-year-old to pull a firearm and shoot at police illustrates how out of hand the campaign against police has gotten," the police department said. "This needs to stop and we need to come together as a community to find solutions to the challenges we face in our neighborhoods. Officers are here to protect and serve and we are beyond belief that something like [that] could happen."