Four people have been formally charged following a domestic dispute where shots were fired in Fruitland, reports the Duchesne County Sheriff’s Office. The shots were fired at a vehicle after the driver threatened to crash into a makeshift cabin. “The August 30th incident ended with a parole fugitive being arrested during the execution of a no-knock warrant by the newly-formed Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team,” shares the Sheriff’s Office. “It was the first time the team has been used to serve a high-risk arrest warrant.” The incident took place when 44-year-old Dorothy Jo Smuin threatened to drive a pickup truck into a cabin if her boyfriend, 41-year-old Ronnie James Manzanares, didn’t tell her who was in the cabin with him, shares Sheriff’s Lt. Jeremy Curry. Deputies found tire impressions that showed Smuin had spun the truck’s rear tires while the vehicle was pointed at the cabin. There were two women in the cabin with Manzanares at the time, both of whom identified Manzanares as their boyfriend, and both of whom told deputies that Manzanares responded to Smuin’s threat by firing a gun multiple times at her. Manzanares is a felon who is legally barred from possessing a gun. He quickly left the area, knowing that cops would be on their way. As Smuin drove away while being shot at by Manzanares, she crashed into the two vehicles belonging to the women in the cabin. Smuin did not call and report the shooting but was found a short time later at a Fruitland gas station. Investigators were told Smuin’s spare tire was on the truck because the original had bullet holes in it. Law enforcement did not find Manzanares on August 30th but learned the next day that he had returned to the cabin where the shooting took place. Deputies set up a perimeter around the cabin before executing a no-knock warrant and arrested Manzanares without incident, explains Curry. Drugs, paraphernalia, and the handgun believed to have been used in the shooting were all recovered and Manzanares was booked into the Duchesne County Jail on a no-bail warrant issued by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole for failing to return to a halfway house in Salt Lake City.
