Dr. Insanity - SWAT Faces Utah’s Deadliest Hostage Situation

Episode Date: January 24, 2026

If you're struggling with OCD or unrelenting intrusive thoughts, NOCD can help. Book a free 15 minute call to get started: https://learn.nocd.com/insanity --- This sniper just took a shot at an armed fugitive holding a family of 5 hostage in their home. The gunman, Joseph Anthony Manhard, is a man with a purpose. He has a vendetta, and he’s going on a rampage - planning to kill his ex-girlfriend and multiple other people who wronged him in the past. Police don’t know how far he’s gotten on his list of targets, and if they don’t capture him here, this family could be next. --- This video was made for educational purposes only. The video is presented to provide genuine footage of police incidents to promote transparency in government while providing educational, informative and newsworthy content allowing viewers to examine and assess public safety material. This is a fact-checked documentary using authoritative sources. The individuals shown in this video have not been convicted of any crime and are legally presumed innocent unless proven otherwise in a court of law. This material is intended solely for educational and informational purposes and represents personal analysis and commentary. Nothing presented should be interpreted as legal counsel, and the observations provided may not include all circumstances or reflect the final charges in each case. This video features real police-related footage shared to support public awareness and government transparency. The content is designed to inform and educate viewers on public safety matters and is presented as a documentary relying on verified and credible sources. All materials used were lawfully obtained through public records requests and are available to the public. The footage is utilized strictly for journalistic, documentary, and educational purposes under the Fair Use doctrine outlined in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act.** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This sniper just took a shot at an armed fugitive holding a family of five hostage in their home. The gunman, Joseph Anthony, is a man with a purpose. He has a vendetta, and he's going on a rampage, planning to kill his ex-girlfriend and multiple other people who wronged him in the past. Police don't know how far he's gone on his list of targets, and if they don't capture, him here, this family could be next. Running across the freeway, let us see your hands! Call units, I'm gonna second statement, we're gonna wait for the helicopter, all units hold your position.

Dial-up, fuck in, right? It's a showtime. Yep, okay? Shot out, got out, go, go, go, no. One more. Police, police! Police! It's Thursday, September 9th, and the first sign that something is seriously wrong comes from an alarming 911 call. Waiton.

So my brother, he's on the loose right now and he's threatened to kill his girlfriend a couple days ago. He just showed up at my house. What's your brother who did he? Joseph Mannhard. He had to fire him on him and he is armed. Where is he? He's outside of my front door right now.

I need the cops here, ASAP. I've got Enos on their way, okay? Okay, you gotta hurry. Okay. You gotta hurry, though. I'm dead serious. Just 24 hours earlier, Joseph Mannhard kidnapped his ex-girlfriend, assaulted her, and threatened to kill her.

After managing to escape, she called police, triggering an arrest warrant for Joseph's immediate capture. Since then, Joseph vanished, and police had no indication of where he might strike next, until now. With an active warrant and a report that Joseph is armed and dangerous, officers are dispatched immediately, advancing towards the house fully prepared for a shootout. I've just talked to the homeowner. He said if he didn't drive, the only place he could have went is hopped the fence and is barricaded in that shed that Swenson's got a view on.

So he said the best way to go through is us just knock on the door, he'll let us in. We'll go through the house and clear the shed. We're ready? All right, I got the, I'll go. Bye. You want to show us where to go? And where's the shed?

Just the corner over there. You got me? I'm gonna have to go through and hit it and come swing it out wide. Swing it out wide and I can step in front. Okay. Do anyone in there? Please, if anyone's in there, show me your hands. Come out. Okay.

All right. He didn't make it in here. Probably drove by one of us. With no sign of the suspect, Joseph remains at large. And whatever he came here to do, he didn't finish it. So before officers leave the residents, they speak. with Joseph's brother, trying to understand why Joseph showed up and what he might do next. What he tells them, reframes the entire situation.

According to his brother, Joseph didn't come here randomly. He was likely looking for his ex-girlfriend, the same woman who escaped his kidnapping just a day earlier. The two had recently broken up, a split that left Joseph without stable housing and increasingly angry. His brother also tells police that in recent conversations, Joseph had been talking about tying up loose ends and ending it all. To officers, it begins to sound like Joseph isn't just running. He may be moving with intent, driven by a personal vendetta, and targeting people he believes have wronged him.

If that's true, it has never been more urgent to locate Joseph before he reaches someone else. But it doesn't take long for those fears. to be confirmed because later that evening, police receive another alarming 911 call. Airfield 911. My brother involved. Is he knocking on the door or what's doing? He's going to front yard. They said they already have it.

It could be out on it. Yes. Okay. We're on the way. Tell me exactly where he's... He's walking around. Following this terrifying call for help from Joseph's sister-in-law, officers are dispatched to the home once again.

But by the time they arrive, Joseph has already vanished. This time, however, officers decide to canvas the surrounding neighborhood before leaving, a decision that will prove critical. Nearby CCTV footage captures Joseph getting into a car and speeding away from the property earlier in the day. For the next few hours, patrol units search across the city, but the White Hyundai remains at a site. But over the next several hours, Joseph's decisions will force officers into the future. one of the most dangerous man hunts of their careers. For the next few hours, patrol units search across the city, but the White Hyundai remains at a sight.

Then around 1.30 a.m., a lone patrol unit spots a vehicle matching the description and immediately initiates a pursuit. Just as the officer begins to close the distance, he suddenly loses the side of the car Joseph is believed to be driving. But just minutes later, as patrol units continue canvassing the area, one officer spots Joseph's car parked on nearby train tracks. With no way of knowing whether Joseph is still inside or hiding close by, the officer cautiously approaches the vehicle. Okay. Okay, I have civilians here saying that there's a car parked on the tracks at building

Hotel 3 on the southwest and can I get a couple more of this way? 31 headed that list. It's built up to 76. I have visual on the vehicle. It looks like it still might be off the plate. I can't forget. The south corner of hotel briefs. Looks like vehicle might be abandoned.

If we can start getting the containment close in, and then I can start my dog. The car turns out to be empty, and there's no sign of Joseph anywhere nearby. By abandoning the vehicle here, Joseph appears to have given officers in a have given officers an advantage. He is now on foot. Without transportation, police finally have a chance to corner him. But that window closes almost immediately, as just 20 minutes later,

Joseph makes his next move. 9-11. Yeah, this is a utility trailer. I just had a lady walk in the front door and said her car was pulling and she was shot at. What kind of car? What blood on her? We're in the area looking for this guy. Could she tell you quick what kind of car? What kind of car? A key optima. As dispatch gathers details from the call, patrol units across the area are alerted to be on the lookout for a stolen white Kia Optima, taken at gunpoint. At the same time, one patrol unit is sent to the scene of the carjacking to speak directly with the victim,

where they'll learn just how close Joseph is to committing his first murder. Do you mind if I talk to you for a second, ma'am? Okay. Do you mind just telling me what happened? Um, so I was sitting in my car, and he was like, hey, do you have a cigarette? Or no, he asked me if I had a lighter, sorry. And I was like, yeah, and I only rolled down my window, like, this far. And I handed him my lighter, and then he was handing it back to me.

And then he just shoved his arm in my window. And I just started rolling it up, and I started screaming. And he was like, I have a fucking gun. And then he pulled it out, and I just kept rolling up the window trying to scream. And then you just shot out at the window. And then I just opened the door, and I see you fucking have it. have it and then I just got out and ran. Okay.

By this point, it's clear Joseph has lost control and this woman is lucky to be alive. But that might not be the case for whoever crosses his path next. Because just minutes later, around 2 a.m., a patrol unit spots the stolen car speeding down the highway heading toward Utah County. As soon as the pursuit begins, Joseph starts swerving across lanes, forcing other drivers to react and putting innocent lives directly in danger. With Joseph refusing to slow down, it's only a matter of time before someone gets hurt.

So to bring the pursuit to an end, an officer approaching from the opposite side of the highway, pulls over and prepares to deploy spike strips. At highway speeds, there's no margin for error. The spikes have to go down seconds before Joseph reaches them. Too early, and he'll see them in time to swerve around and put innocent lives at even greater risk. Good spikes, good spikes, southbound Shepherd.

He's running across the freeway. He's in the northbound lanes. He's in the northbound lanes. Red Jacket. Let me see your hands! He's hopping the fence. He's over the fence now. He's over the fence now.

We need units to frontage. He's on fronters now. On fronters, going to housing complex over here. By a white, like, fence he's about to hop. He's hopping it into someone's backyard. After abandoning his car, Joseph runs towards a residential area surrounded by homes where families are asleep inside. Knowing how dangerous and unpredictable Joseph is, officers now have to cut through the busy highway

and move quickly to find him before anyone else is put at risk. No, he's behind that picket fence right there, whatever address that is. I don't know what the hell that is, but he's behind that. That's where he went in this area. My copy, sir, and I will be headed our direction shortly. You hop this one right here. With Joseph disappearing into a residential area, the situation becomes far more unpredictable. By now, more than 30 officers are flooding the scene, and without coordination, every decision

risks putting innocent families in danger. This is when Sergeant Sheldon arrives and takes control. Okay. Stand by, I'm setting containment, all right? Sorry, bro. I don't have all the information because we switched this last minute, okay? So what do you guys got? So he already shot someone in the Freeport Center.

Okay. It's probably going to take like half an hour for that bird to go. He hopped over that fence right there. Which fence? That one? Okay. After a quick brief, Sergeant Sheldon forms a plan to flush out Joseph. First, a helicopter is called in to scan the neighborhood from above. Second, a tactical operation center is established near Joseph's last known location

to coordinate every unit in real time. And third, officers set up a wide containment zone, covering more than a square mile with units positioned throughout the neighborhood to cut off any possible escape routes. But just as the plan goes into motion, officers are abruptly interrupted by a sharp sound in the distance. Command at 17-100,000-1-100-1-1.

Right where Preston's at, that's where the shots came from. It was one single shot. Preston, are you okay? Hold your position, I'm sending a unit around to you. We're gonna get, if we can get someone over here, to the north of 2025, North Frontier's civil.

I'll set containment. You guys come up with a plan to systematically search this. Okay? The gunshot confirms one thing immediately. Joseph is still in the area. But what officers don't realize yet is that the shot wasn't random. It was Joseph forcing his way into a nearby home. And in the next few hours, the situation will escalate in ways officers aren't prepared for. Approximately an hour after the gunshot was fired, the helicopter finally arrived and begins a full aerial sweep of the neighborhood.

But Joseph is nowhere to be seen. On the ground, officers spread out searching for Joseph and cautiously prepare for an ambush. Uh, forerunner? Gotcha. The homeowners already? Battleful police! Hi, Balfa Police.

Did you guys get to me? Oh, sorry. We're just looking for somebody in the area. You're homeless secure and notice anything suspicious. Okay, it's gonna have a flight now. going to have a white male red shirt, you see someone like that, give us a call. Okay. If you find them or see them or anything, give us to call now.

Okay. All right, thank you. Oh, you're good. Just make sure you lock your door. What the hell is this guy with us? It's driving me crazy. After more than two hours of knocking on doors and checking backyards, there's no sign of the suspect.

Joseph's absence becomes increasingly unsettling, and Sergeant Sheldon quickly recognizes what it likely means. If Star 9 can't find him, we have a totally different situation, right? Because he potentially could be any one of these houses. He could be taking people hostage. He could have broken in and it's unoccupied. So we have all of this shit that we're going to have to filter through. And that's going to have to take...

How many houses are we looking at each? I would estimate eight on this side, six to ten on this side. At this point, Sergeant Sheldon and his team are forced to consider multiple scenarios. including a barricaded suspect holding hostages inside. But they won't have to weigh those possibilities for long because one phone call is about to answer that question for them. 9-1-1, what's your emergency? Immediately after this, officers spread out

and quickly locate the caller nearby, Chris Samuelson, a father who managed to escape the house just moments earlier. What he tells them is chilling. Inside the home, his wife, two daughters, and his daughter's boyfriend are still being held at gunpoint, and Joseph is inside with them. With this new escalation,

Sergeant Sheldon knows this is now beyond the scope of a standard response and prepares to bring in specialized tactical support. All units, priority traffic, all units, priority traffic, we have information from a citizen leaving a house. Oh, geez. Let's go. All vulnerable swan, squad, return to time. Call, Bountable SWAT returned a talk.

Victim's wife, daughter, and daughter's boyfriend are all on the couch. Suspect was sitting in a chair just behind the couch. Daughter, he has another daughter that is sleeping downstairs that should be waking up in the next couple of minutes. Suspect gain access to the house through an unlocked window in the basement. After SWAT teams arrive and are quickly briefed on the situation, they begin coordinating their next steps, preparing to establish containment, and open negotiations with Joseph. But before a plan can fully take shape,

someone is spotted exiting the back door of the Samuelson home. How much from outside? So, I'm not going to outside. So, I'm sorry. Miraculously, the daughter who'd been sleeping in the basement somehow managed to slip outside without Joseph ever noticing. And without realizing it, Joseph's hostage count is now down to three. With that update, commanding officers begin reassessing the situation in real time.

They review everything Joseph has done over the past 36 hours and determined that he has shown a complete disregard for human life and willingness to escalate when under pressure. Based on that assessment, commanders make a critical decision. SWAT teams are authorized to use deadly force if a clear opportunity presents itself. From this point forward, the priority is clear. protect the hostages at any cost. Die it's fuck in, right? It's a showtime. Yep.

Okay? door is going to be that's going to be our secondary okay front door opens in this is the living room we got set up this is the kitchen area okay everybody's good with that wrong side on that yep the wrong side of that right all right phil beach we're going to practice to the right is it behind the stairs no wait if daughter snuck out window that means a bottom window is open right this is the fastest way to get it is the fastest way we have a flash bag we're going to reset a zoo loop and come in just keep practicing wherever he's had in this room You guys are going to flip it.

Two banks. Two banks? Do you want to do two bangs? No, one bank. Just one bang. With deadly force authorized, a coordinated plan is put into motion. One designed to end the threat and extract the hostages safely. A sniper will be positioned nearby, ready to take Joseph out if he's exposed, and a clear shot presents itself.

At the same time, negotiators will make contact with Joseph, work to slow him down, gain compliance, and convince him to release him to release him to release him. release the hostages and surrender peacefully. If that fails, they have one secondary objective. Get Joseph to step outside, because if he does, even briefly, it could create the opening the sniper needs. With three innocent lives at risk, there's no room for error. One wrong move, and everything ends, tragically. The officer assigned as the sniper is Jared Tadahara, a long-serving

police officer who moved from patrol and street crime work into a specialized SWAT sniper role. After arriving on scene, Tadehara conducts a quick tactical assessment and moves into a nearby house facing the Samuelson home. From here, he has a clear view of the backside of the house, a position that allows observation without being easily visible to the suspect and provides a safe distance to avoid interfering with perimeter officers. But Tadehara isn't working alone. Every sniper has a spotter, a second officer responsible for range calculations, wind assessments, and most critically, confirming that the shot is clear before Tadehara pulls the trigger. Across the street, negotiations continue. For the past three hours, officers have been trying

to reason with Joseph, urging him to surrender and release the hostages. But Joseph refuses. He won't let anyone go and threatens to kill the entire family if officers attempt to force. entry. With three people at fatal risk, a precise sniper shot becomes the only way to end the standoff before it turns deadly. But before Officer Tadehara gets that opportunity, he receives crucial information that makes things a lot more risky. There's a difference against suspect? Dayton. Suspect fish to add the shorter, wide amounts. Okay. That's a slightly rounded fix. Unfortunately for Tadahara,

mustache to get him, that would be it. Unfortunately for Tadahara, the situation just became far more complicated. One of the hostages inside is a male who closely resembles Joseph. One wrong shot and an innocent person could be killed. With that in mind, Tadehara shifts his position to a different house across the street. He needs an angle facing the front door, of the Samuelson's home. The shot at this distance travels roughly 75 to 100 feet and takes less

than a second from decision to impact. At the same time, negotiators reassess their approach. What's been alarming them throughout the standoff is that Joseph hasn't made any traditional demands. He didn't ask for money, car, or safe passage. Instead, he's simply refusing to let anyone go. That behavior begins to make sense once investigators provide more insight into Joseph's condition. According to them, his mental state has been deteriorating for hours. He's been heavily using drugs for days, his thinking is no longer rational or strategic, and his behavior is increasingly volatile. Most concerning of all, Joseph isn't releasing the hostages or surrendering. His end game appears to be killing people he

blames for all his problems, then forcing police to kill him or take his own life. Because of this assessment, SWAT officers remain positioned far back to avoid provoking him. Negotiators then ask Joseph to step outside the front door with the hostages to prove they're still alive. If he does, it will give Tadehara a clear view and a chance to take the shot. It takes time, but Joseph eventually agrees to walk to the front door with the hostages while warning he'll shoot them if officers make any aggressive moves. After two days of chasing Joseph, officers finally have a chance to bring his violent rampage to an end. With the SWAT team nearby staged for immediate entry, Officer Tadehara prepares to take the shot.

He stabilizes his rifle using a bipod, a small stand attached to the gun, then lies prone, steadies his aim, and slows down his breathing. A few seconds pass, and then the front door begins to open. I think we're good right now unless they start calling the body. Let's go. One more. One more. Got you.

We got him. We got him. Hands up. Hands up, bro. I mean, I don't know. Maybe a piece of his skull hit me or something. I don't know. You're good?

You're good? You're good. Let me see. Maybe a piece of his skull hit me. Someone hit me, can I point? Someone hit me right through. Yeah, I see. What do you see?

He's okay. He's okay. Yep, yeah. Grab him gun on here. You okay? You got anything? You got anything? Perel, she's shaking.

Yep, I got you, I got you. Just hold on to me, hold on to me, I got you. You're safe. You are safe. After more than six hours trapped inside with an armed, unstable man, the entire family survives. An outcome that, just minutes earlier, felt far from guaranteed. At the front door, Joseph Mannhard lies critically wounded. Paramedics rush him to the hospital,

but despite life-saving efforts, he's later pronounced dead. Investigators later determined that Joseph's actions were driven by a rapid collapse. His failed relationship and heavy drug use pushed him into increasingly violent and reckless behavior. By the end, he wasn't trying to escape or survive. He was acting like someone who had nothing left to lose.