Suspect hides in trap door during SWAT raid in Murray
MURRAY, Utah () — A Murray man is in police custody after a SWAT raid revealed a number of illegal narcotics and weapons.
Shannon Ashcraft, 52, was booked in the Salt Lake County Jail on multiple drug distribution charges Tuesday morning. Court documents show that just after 5 a.m., SWAT from the carried out a no-knock search warrant at Ashcraft's home in Murray.
According to police, Ashcraft was located hiding in a trap door located in a back bedroom of the home. Officers also found keys lying on the ground inside the trap door.
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After further examination, police found the keys to match a black safe located inside of a closet which was also connected to the back bedroom.
Inside the safe, police allegedly found large amounts of meth, heroin, and morphine pills. According to a probable cause statement, officers also found four 'very large swords' which were straight-blades and longer than 18 inches.
Court documents also allege that officers found a bat in the home which 'had a sword that detached from it'.
Ashcraft was arrested for three counts of illegal drug possession with intent to distribute, interfering with a peace officer, and four counts of dangerous weapon conduct by a restricted person.
Suspect hides in trap door during SWAT raid in Murray
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The Hill
32 minutes ago
- The Hill
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The Trump administration has zeroed in on non-citizen students and activists who it has accused of supporting Palestinian causes in ways it deems hostile to U.S. interests. Amid Trump's pursuit of visa and green card holders, Mahmoud Khalil's case has become a flashpoint. Khalil was arrested in March and detained after the administration accused him of violating immigration laws by engaging in anti-Israel activism. This week, Khalil said in court papers the administration's claims against him were "grotesque" and that his activism involved "protesting this Israeli government's indiscriminate killing of thousands of innocent Palestinians." Civil rights groups have warned that the government's hardliner posture risks violating free speech and protest rights. A coalition of 60 groups issued a joint statement this week on antisemitic hate crimes in which it warned the Trump administration not to over-correct because it would "make us all less safe." "As we condemn these heinous [antisemitic] acts and those who perpetrate hate and violence, we also recommit to ensuring that these events — and the legitimate fear in the Jewish community — are not exploited to justify inhumane immigration policies or to target Arab Americans and those who peacefully and nonviolently exercise their First Amendment rights in support of Palestinian human rights," the groups said. Dhillon told Fox News Digital: "It's not my responsibility to balance free speech issues on campus. It's my responsibility to enforce the federal civil rights laws. And my opinion, there's really no conflict." When he took office, Trump vowed in a string of executive orders to direct Attorney General Pam Bondi to "aggressively prosecute terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews." Trump appointees at the DOJ then moved quickly to convene an antisemitism task force. Dhillon said there is also frequent communication between the White House, the DOJ, and Jewish leaders about addressing antisemitism. Jewish Students Welcome Trump Admin's Crackdown On Antisemitism, Hamas Sympathizers On Campuses "We have heard from the Jewish community, and I've probably met with — I think there's at least two dozen rabbis who have my number on speed dial now. I literally sent three emails to rabbis in the last hour," she said. She said her division has opened several investigations involving land use for religious purposes under a law known as the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), including five related to Judaism. The administration is also notifying Jewish communities of grants available for added security at synagogues, and she said campuses are a "significant focus" for her. After reports surfaced that Dhillon's shakeup in the Civil Rights Division led to a mass exodus of more than 100 attorneys leaving the division, she told the media she was unfazed by the departures and that her focus remains on launching the division's work toward combating antisemitism. Testing the limits of his subordinates and the courts, another top DOJ official, Emil Bove, launched an internal investigation into Columbia student protesters early this year. The probe caused concern among line attorneys, who felt it was flimsy and was also met with multiple reprimands from a magistrate judge, according to the New York Times. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement in May that the New York Times' story was false and fed to the newspaper "by a group of people who allowed antisemitism and support of Hamas terrorists to fester for years." Blanche confirmed the veracity of the investigation and said it involved, in part, a probe into a Hamas-linked image on Columbia University Apartheid Divest's social article source: Trump admin cracks down on antisemitism as DOJ official exposes 'violent rhetoric' of radical protesters
