5PM: Man who called 911 to get out of ticket: 'Please hurry up'

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LOGAN — In a hurried, anxious voice, the man in a recording repeatedly asks the 911 dispatcher to send police officers to Wal-Mart.

"Just send somebody, just somebody," he says excitedly. "Somebody is shooting. They got a gun. … They gonna shoot up the store."

Logan police believe the man who made that 911 call Thursday was Jimmie Willis, 27. They believe Willis just wanted to create a diversion so the officer who had just pulled him over on a traffic stop near the store would go away.

The scheme worked — at least temporarily.

The officer immediately left Willis to respond to the nearby Wal-Mart after dispatchers broadcasted reports about an alleged gunman inside the store. But when authorities quickly learned the call was a hoax, they traced the cellphone back to Willis.

The bizarre incident began about 1:45 p.m. Thursday near Wal-Mart, 1150 S. Main, when an officer pulled over Willis for a broken taillight. During the traffic stop, Willis allegedly gave the officer false information.

As the officer was looking up Willis' information in his patrol car, police say the man called 911 on his cellphone while sitting in his car.

The Deseret News obtained a recording of the 911 call through a Government Records Access and Management Act request.

During the brief 49-second call, the caller is heard speaking in hurriedly. When the dispatcher asks him the address of the emergency, he replies: "The south Wal-Mart, the south Wal-Mart, the south Wal-Mart," in quick succession. "Please hurry up, please."

Willis tells the dispatcher the gunman is in the bathroom. After more pleas to hurry, he hangs up.

After tracing the call, officers went to Willis' house in Nibley where he had nailed his front door shut and initially refused to talk to police, according to investigators. He surrendered shortly before 5 p.m., just as they were about to release a police K-9 into the house.

Willis was booked in the Cache County Jail for investigation of obstruction, making a false alarm and providing false ID.

In August, Willis pleaded guilty to interfering with police in a domestic violence investigation, according to court records. In December of 2014, he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and drug possession in another case.

In 2012, he was convicted of burglary and obstruction of justice while charges of theft and giving false statements at a preliminary hearing were dismissed. He twice violated probation after being convicted and was still on probation at the time of his arrest Thursday, according to court records.

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