OGDEN -- Police are hoping a man who was arrested after an Ogden SWAT standoff will help them figure out who was responsible for a violent gang-related stabbing earlier this month.
Agents with the Weber-Morgan Narcotics Strike Force and the Ogden Metro Gang Unit cornered Jesse Lopez, 23, a probation fugitive, and his girlfriend, Reyna Curtis, 28, inside an apartment at 2251 Jefferson Ave. early Wednesday.
Authorities say Lopez has a violent past, has gang affiliations and was wanted on several felony warrants.
Narcotics agents obtained a search warrant for his apartment during an investigation into drug activity in the area.
Ogden police want to question Lopez in connection with a violent stabbing March 6.
Authorities say Lopez attended a party at a home on the 500 block of 27th Street and may have been involved in a dispute between two members of the same gang.
Police say a 23-year-old man was stabbed three times in the torso and once in a lung during an argument in the backyard of the home.
Lopez is believed to have participated in the stabbing and possibly held the victim while he was being attacked, said Ogden Police Lt. Scott Conley.
The victim later escaped and was treated for the wounds and a collapsed lung.
Lopez fled before officers arrived, but police did arrest Donald Clark Myers, 31, after a short chase. They found a knife on him that is believed to have been used in the attack, so they booked him into jail on charges of possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person and avoiding apprehension.
Myers has not been charged with the stabbing.
Conley said Myers is a person of interest and officials want to speak to Lopez to clarify his involvement.
"We need further information," Conley said. "We want to see if we can rule out Myers as the guy who committed the stabbing."
On Wednesday, the SWAT team surrounded the unit Lopez and Curtis were in, as well as two other apartments, around 12:45 a.m. Curtis came out of the apartment after repeated calls for Lopez to give up.
Curtis was not arrested, but strike force officials say they will seek to charge her with harboring a fugitive.
For several hours, Lopez apparently hid in a crawl space beneath the home and refused demands to come out.
The team ultimately used tear gas grenades to force out Lopez and arrest him. Lopez was booked into Weber County Jail on five warrants and a new charge of resisting arrest.
Lopez was charged Thursday with felony counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and a misdemeanor count of interfering with arrest.
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