Photo of the car involved in the alleged carjacking attempt, courtesy of BYU Police
PROVO, Utah — Brigham Young University Police say a man who served prison time for homicide now faces accusations of an attempted carjacking.
It happened after the BYU-Utah football game Saturday night, just as the game wrapped up.
People were getting out to their cars to get home around midnight. Someone called 911 to say a man with a knife tried to get into their car near the BYU Museum of Art.
According to an online post, a BYU police officer found the carjacking suspect near the administration building. He told him to get on the ground, but says the suspect stood up and tried to fight him as he waited for backup. Two people jumped in to help restrain the man, police said.
“Thanks to the help of two citizens who jumped in to assist Officer Rigby this situation didn’t escalate, and the suspect was taken into custody without anyone getting hurt,” the police department said.
BYU police identified the man as William Ellison, 42, saying he has a long criminal history.
“The suspect has a lengthy criminal history including doing prison time for a homicide,” the police department wrote on Facebook.
KSL could not independently verify that Ellison served time in prison for homicide. However, we did confirm a series of recent criminal charges, including trespassing in Salt Lake City in July and a car burglary in Provo in August.