SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah man has been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping after police say he held six missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at gunpoint in his home.
Charging documents say 45-year-old Paul Gutierrez Marquez invited the men over to his home Thursday night in West Valley City to talk about religion. Marquez pointed a gun at them when they talked about things he didn’t like.
The missionaries told police they tried to leave after Marquez showed the gun but were held against their will for about an hour. None of them was physical injured.
Marquez is jailed on $125,000 bail. It’s unknown if he has an attorney.
Church spokesman Daniel Woodruff says the faith is grateful that the missionaries calmly and appropriately dealt with an “alarming ordeal.”