Man arrested after assaulting staff, threatening to blow up mental health hospital, charges say

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A Kearns man has been arrested and charged after physically assaulting healthcare workers and threatening to blow up the Huntsman Mental Health Institute.

Lorin Doyle Lee, 55, has been charged with threat of terrorism, a second-degree felony, and four counts of assault/threat of violence on a healthcare provider, a Class A misdemeanor.

According to documents, on June 22, 2025, University of Utah Police were contacted about an assault on a healthcare worker at the Huntsman Mental Health Institute. The nurse supervisor spoke with an officer and told him that a man had physically attacked staff.

The man was identified as Lee, and staff said that he was “verbally aggressive and making homicidal threats.” When staff directed Lee to go to the observation room, he instead started walking toward his personal room.

A female staff member blocked his path to redirect him, and Lee “walked up to her chest to chest and instructed her to ‘get out of my way, b–,'” pushing her with his chest. Lee was holding a hot coffee and splashed it on the female staff member, according to documents. A male staff member came over to help grab Lee’s arms and stop him from doing anything else.

Lee managed to get a hand free and punched the male staff member in the nose. The staff member tried to keep his head away from Lee, but the man continued punching the staff member in the back of his head.

Once Lee was restrained, he made threatening statements toward the staff. He said things like, “I’m gonna f– this place up, you breed disease,” and threatened to call gang members. “I have enough chemicals to make chemical tic,” he allegedly told staff members.

A bystander witness told police that Lee also made threats toward him, threatening to put harmful chemicals like mercury on his car door handle to kill him, that he was going to punch him in the throat, and that he was going to blow up the Huntsman Mental Health Institute.

Staff also reported that Lee made threats similar to this towards them. They recalled him saying, “Watch your back, you will never know when I’m gonna come back,” “I will stalk this place and get you,” “I have grenades, grenade launchers,” and “I’ll come back here and blow this place up.”

According to documents, Lee has a history of arrests and convictions, including a prior conviction of assault on a healthcare worker and multiple convictions for assault. Lee was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail and has a no-bail warrant filed against him.