A 17-year-old boy who authorities say was wielding a metal stick was shot and critically injured by Salt Lake City officers Saturday night, touching off unrest downtown as officers donned riot gear and blocked streets and bystanders threw rocks and bottles.
The teenager shot by two Salt Lake City Police officers was in critical condition at a local hospital Sunday after being struck twice in the torso, according to Detective Ken Hansen with the Unified Police Department, which is investigating the shooting.
Salt Lake City Police declined to identify the boy Sunday afternoon because he is a minor.
In a statement, the department said two Salt Lake City officers were trying to break up a fight around 8 p.m. where the teenager and another male were hitting a third male with metal objects.
The officers ordered the males to drop the metal, “stick-like objects,” and one male complied. The teenager did not drop the stick and instead moved toward the victim in a threatening manner, Salt Lake City Police Detective Greg Wilking said.
One or both of the police officers then shot the teen.
Police said earlier Sunday that the teenager was shot when he tried to attack one of the officers. Wilking said Sunday afternoon that investigators were still trying to determine if that was the case. He said they had not yet interviewed the officers involved.
Wilking did not have details about how far away the teenager was from officers or the victim when police shot him.
He also did not have details about how long the sticks were or where the males got the metal. Police said earlier Sunday that the boy had been wielding a broomstick.
Police did not release the identities of the other two males involved or whether they were also minors. The male who was hit with the sticks did not require medical attention, Wilking said. He did not know what happened to the other male who had been wielding a stick or whether investigators spoke with him.
Neither officer involved in the shooting was injured, Wilking said. Police are not releasing the identity of the officers but said Sunday that both were placed administrative leave while the incident is investigated.
The officers were both wearing body cameras but police said Sunday they will not release the footage because of the ongoing investigation and the possibility that the teenager depicted could face charges.
Police did not have details about what prompted the fight in the street, which was near a downtown homeless shelter, shopping mall and movie theater.
Bystander Selam Mohammad told The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News that he was friends with the teenager and said the boy was shot as he turned to face police.
“He barely even turned around, then boom, boom, boom — and he just dropped,” Mohammad told the Deseret News.
When asked about that account, Hansen said he did not have details to confirm or deny that information.
After the shooting, bystanders began yelling obscenities and throwing rocks and bottles at police, who called in about 100 officers to help.
Police, including officers wearing helmets and carrying riot shields, barricaded four surrounding city blocks. A light rail stop in the neighborhood was closed.
Hansen said the bystanders throwing rocks and bottles were people hanging out near the shelter. He didn’t know if they were homeless, but he said they were not customers of the nearby shopping center. Hansen said the area was relatively busy, with people visiting the shopping center and restaurants and others hanging out near the shelter and homeless facilities.
“There were pockets of that disturbance for hours,” Hansen said Sunday.
Wilking said police asked bystanders to leave the area and put up barricades and tape to clear streets. He said bystanders were throwing objects at police for only about 10 minutes. He said police asked people to leave but did not physically move anyone, form a riot line or spray anything such as tear gas to disperse the crowd.
“It’s kind of making more of a presence with your body,” he said of the tactic used to clear the streets.
Four people were arrested for civil disorder, Salt Lake City police said.
Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski said in a statement Sunday that she was saddened and that the shooting was a tragedy for everyone involved.
“The use of force by law enforcement against the public can tear at the delicate balance of trust between both sides, and must be taken extremely seriously,” she said. “These incidents create a number of unanswered questions in the short term, and justice requires we work together in good faith to find answers.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
When are we going to retrain our police, how to treat citizens with respect and without resorting to lethal force as a first measure of restraint/coercion ?. It would be a wise investment, rather than having to cover up for their imprudent use of lethal force in lawsuits brought against the municipalities (taxpayer’s dollars) who are unfortunate enough to have hired these killers to begin with. Calculate the investment we have already committed to this seventeen year old victim of police violence, and it will anger any citizen to think that it was squandered so frivolously by those who are entrusted (with weapons) to serve and protect us citizens and our communities. Weapons discipline training (similar to that gained from our military training) is obviously necessary, to instruct those hired to serve and protect us citizens and our communities, to be slow to use lethal force against us, without first expiring every other form of non-lethal restraint/coercion. This isn’t the ‘wild west’ of the 19th century. Us tax-payers are ultimately responsible for the actions of our police. We cannot afford to allow killers behind badges any longer. LJB
When are parents going to teach their children to behave and act like decent citizens? No this isn’t the the “wild west”, but apparently these young people seem to think that it is. And what would make them or their slack parents think it is okay to attack anyone – black, white, green or purple. And the same parent of the 17 year old just shot would rant and rave if their child was beat by someone with a “metal object” or any other kind of object like their child was doing. And apparently, according to your thinking, the cop should have just tried “bare hand against metal object” combat. I would venture to say, that even if it was hand to hand combat and the cop won, you would still say it wasn’t a fair fight because the poor, misunderstood 17 year old got beat up when he didn’t obey a police order.
Why do these Gesrapos, get the option to decide, whose, fraudulently imposed, “Drivers,” license, contract, expiration, may lead to another fascist feeding frenzy; to show us what police FORCE, means….??? Then, there’s the antic, of letting these, homocidals, at law, be the investigators, of, themselves….. Disarm the Nazis, or, arm, all of us…. All traffic stops, subject us all to a policing for profit extortion racket, under color of law; especially, to begin with, the fraudulent imposition, by any at law cabal, to, abrogate our rights, for us, with, gun toting extortionistic, State conspiratorial, contractual nexus to the fascist state, and, its,’ criminal subdivisions… . Show me embezzlement of, the right to travel….legality, as imposed by code nazis, slithering, in opposition to, substantive laws, already,settled; in opposition, to your, imposed “voluntary,” compliance, slaveries… ..just, .one law, that requires, anyone to give up, a, right, by, mandate, to, secure a privilege, revocable, at the homocidal, whim, of DMV/CHP, embezzlements, of private property, without, a trial by jury, in a corporate boardroom tribunal, called “court,” with a ministerial at law, clerk, illegally, presiding, with, another fraudulently imposed jurisdiction……. Before all you psychophants of organized crime at law, resume, bootlicking, the criminals on the “right side of the law, do read, “Drivers license versus, right to travel.” … Snidely…. Edgrrr…
Gestapos…. worth repeating….
you have the right to travel. BY FOOT. if you want to ride a taxi, train or plane – you have to pay. If you want to drive a car – you have to get licensed, have insurance, buy or rent a car. None of these impede your “right to travel” – it just means the only free way is by your God given feet.
Let’s just let these street people kill each other off. Don’t involve the police. Or better yet you people that know it all go out there unarmed and control these poor defenseless people who are never committing crimes. Or do you have the balls to do that?
I see they were Muslims. Cops should have kept shooting until all the Muzzies were dead.
What does the guy who was getting beat with the metal sticks have to say about all this. I bet he was glad that the police were there. After all they shot the offender because they feared that the victim might get killed from any further beating. This was all determined in a few seconds OR LESS. Now everybody has day’s to make the same choice!!
Stun gun, would not have curtailed the gestapo excuse to kill…. or, riddle….with bullets; with intent to kill…??? How many gestapos, beat, Sheeple, with, metal weapons, and, do so, while, the homocidals, practice the force of their, criminalities…. ??? … Snidely….. Edgrrr…
Gestapo criminals, who riddle with bullets, for disobedience, should be fitted with Swiss Chese, hats, to, forewarn the Sheeple, who’s a bullet riddler, they might have to defend themselves from…. Snidely…. Edgrrr…
I wholeheartedly agree with PJT, when are parents going to start getting involved in their children’s lives, teaching them respect for each other, adults, seniors and yes, the Police.
Well, they did not shoot the stick-holder who dropped the stick when the police told him to do so. See, if you follow the directions of the police, nothing will happen. The other person who was shot was not thinking because you do not bring a stick to a gunfight. To use a now-famous quote – “You just can’t fix stupid.”
Three days after Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, Dillon Taylor, 20, white, and unarmed, was shot and killed by a black cop in Salt Lake City. No riots, per se, and about 3 weeks later, the investigation of that incident found that the officer was justified in the shooting, because of the reviewing of the frontal audio/video camera the cop was wearing. In one of the 8:04 minute videos, it shows Taylor getting shot and bleeding to death. Graphic. It seems that Taylor was wearing a walkman and couldn’t hear the cop with the cop pointing a gun at him. It seems that Taylor was pulling up his shirt to turn down his walkman, and the cop thought he was reaching for a gun, so he shot him.
“These incidents create a number of unanswered questions in the short term, and justice requires we work together in good faith to find answers.”
Translation: “We’re going to hunker down and lie low and wait until this blows over. With any luck, the public should lose interest in it within a week or two.”