South Jordan man brandished knife at officers, threatened to kill them, documents say

SOUTH JORDAN, Utah (ABC4) — A South Jordan man has been arrested and charged after allegedly threatening multiple officers’ lives with a knife when they responded to his residence.

Hunter Ayce Stayton, 27, has been charged with four counts of assault on a peace officer with the use of a dangerous weapon, a second-degree felony, and one count of interfering with a peace officer, a Class B misdemeanor.

According to documents, on July 26, 2025, officers with the South Jordan Police Department (SJPD) were dispatched on reports of a domestic disturbance near Lily Garden Lane in South Jordan. They had been dispatched to the same address early in the morning for a fight during an overnight house party.

When SJPD officers arrived on scene, documents say that they determined there was not a domestic incident, but that Stayton was “extremely agitated due to items being missing from his home after the party.” SJPD officers tried to gather information about what went missing, but documents say that Stayton turned his anger toward them.

Stayton allegedly grew more “agitated and unpredictable,” and SJPD officers tried to de-escalate the situation. The man took his shirt off and told police to “fight him,” before running around the driveway and screaming.

According to documents, Stayton opened the garage and stated “officers were going to die.” He began making threats toward the SJPD officers, saying that he was going to shoot them, and walked into his residence through the open garage. Police were aware from previous cases that Stayton possessed firearms.

When Stayton came back out of the house, he was allegedly holding a silver knife. He began brandishing the weapon at the four responding officers and moving toward them rapidly. Responding SJPD officers drew their handguns and tasers and commanded Stayton to drop the knife.

Stayton complied with police orders and dropped the knife, but documents say he was “verbally and physically non-compliant” while they attempted to take him into custody. At one point, Stayton allegedly attempted to sprint back into his residence, causing officers to deploy a taser and tackle the man in order to detain him.

After Stayton was placed into handcuffs, he allegedly stated that he was going to “hunt [the officers] down and kill them with the knife” that he had dropped. He further stated that he would “be coming for officers’ heads.”

Medical responders cleared Stayton at the scene, and he was placed into a WRAP restraint, used to prevent detainees from injuring officers while under arrest. Stayton was checked at the hospital before being booked into the Salt Lake County Jail, where he is being held without bail.