SHOCKING FOOTAGE: Sheriff Station Attack

March 05, 1995 | Sheriff Station Attack Footage

Sheriff’s officials arrested a man Sunday after he allegedly walked into the Maricopa County (AZ) Sheriff’s Department lobby, indicating he wanted to be shot by an officer, according to a Sheriff’s spokesperson.

At 3:12 p.m., 34-year-old Phoenix resident Walton Samuel Gayson arrived at the station. After Gayson indicated his intentions, the man started making suicidal threats and that’s when officials evacuated and surrounded the building. The man can be heard in the video yelling profanities (which have been muted), demanding that officers acknowledge him.

During the incident, a 911 dispatching center located adjacent to the lobby was also evacuated, according to the Sheriff’s spokesperson. Officers engaged in crisis communications with him for about 20 minutes. Eventually officers were able to talk Gayson into surrendering and detained him. He was unharmed.

Investigators are not clear as to the motive for the man’s actions, but at one point the man indicated he was alerting officials about an imminent attack but no one would acknowledge his warnings. There were no record of previous encounters with this individual and the Maricopa County (AZ) Sheriff’s Department, and at the time believed the man was passing through from another state. He was later held for interrogation for the murder of four Arizona men in 1997.