A Utah man clad in armor and wielding a battle axe was shot by police in a tense standoff over the long weekend.
38-year-old Benjamin Dee Wilcken initiated an in-home standoff with Iron County SWAT an hour before Christmas Day, after 911 reports claimed Wilcken may be suicidal with intent to harm his family.
ICSO evacuated local homes due to the threat of explosive devices that reports claimed Wilcken had, although none were found at the scene.
During the incident, a drunken Wilcken -wearing body armor and swinging an axe- was tased to no effect before an officer was forced to shoot the man in the chest.
According to The Salt Lake Tribune, a Christmas miracle in the form of ballistic armor prevented a family from having to bury their loved one, and Wilcken was taken into custody.
Spending Christmas Day in jail, Wilcken was booked on second-degree felony complaints of assaulting a police officer and making threats against a person or property, in addition to misdemeanor complaints of disorderly conduct and intoxication.
