‘There was a lot of firepower;’ Homeowner recounts deadly SWAT standoff
Sep 4, 2025, 6:00 AM
Investigators collect evidence at the house where a deadly SWAT standoff occurred. (Shelby Lofton/KSL TV)
(Shelby Lofton/KSL TV)
WEST JORDAN — The owner of the house at the center of Tuesday’s deadly SWAT standoff is sharing what he witnessed.
On Tuesday evening, West Jordan police said a man was shot and killed after they tried to get him to come out of the house where an argument had occurred. Most of the neighborhood was instructed to shelter in place.
Branden Vincent, the owner of the house, said he watched the tense standoff through his neighbor’s windows.
“It’s not a place you want to bring a friend,” Vincent said. “It’s just a home for people who are trying to get back on their feet.”
Vincent lives in the home and rents the rooms out to tenants who are recovering from addiction.
Investigators collect evidence at the house where a deadly SWAT standoff occurred. (Shelby Lofton/KSL TV)
He said that a man he didn’t know showed up at his home at approximately 4 p.m., wearing a ski mask, with a duffel bag. Vincent said the man was aggravated, complaining that his clothes were wet.
According to Vincent, a couple of his tenants know this man from childhood.
“Where he was in the basement visiting, the tenant down there, he was upset because they did seem wet, but [the bag] was right underneath the vent, and with the AC on it felt cold,” Vincent said. “So maybe he felt that he thought it was just wetness rather than cold.”
Vincent said he and his tenants tried to calm him down, but the man was saying concerning things.
“He did say he was looking to kill somebody,” he said. “I can’t say whether it was either of them. He did say that he felt backstabbed, that he felt people were going behind his back from his younger life.
Vincent said he heard the man’s gun cock. He said he went next door and called 911, concerned about his tenants still inside.
The police obtained a search warrant and entered the premises with the SWAT team.
Vincent said he watched as the man fired shots at them, then they returned fire, killing him.
“There’s a lot of holes in the window there,” Vincent said. “There was a lot of firepower, and it scared me. It scared me a lot, as it did everybody else in this neighborhood, especially my neighbors. In fact, we’re going to make sure nothing like that comes to this neighborhood again. It’s not that we invited it, it just showed up.”
Vincent said he doesn’t know if drugs, alcohol or mental illness influenced this man’s behavior yesterday. He said the man is a husband and a father.
Because this incident involved West Jordan police officers, the Unified police took over the investigation. UPD told KSL that WJPD would handle questions.
On Wednesday afternoon, WJPD said the man who died was 26-year-old Elhelbawy Adam Idrees.
Court documents showed that Idrees was arrested in 2018 for shooting at a smoke shop in Millcreek and stealing a Mercedes-Benz in 2021. In each of those cases, he pleaded guilty and served time in the Utah State Prison.
The mug shot of Elhelbawy Idrees when he was 19 in 2018. (The Salt Lake County Jail)
Contributing: Michael Houck, KSL TV
