Authorities in Salt Lake City released body camera video Monday that shows an officer shooting a 13-year-old boy after his mother called 911 because the teen was acting out and needed help.
In the disturbing video from Sept. 4, the teen can be seen running from police and not complying when an officer orders him to the ground. Moments before one of the officers opens fire, another can be heard saying, “Pull your hands out.”
It isn’t clear whether the teen, whom NBC News is not identifying because of his age, was armed. A Salt Lake City police statement released Monday didn’t say, and the department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The teen suffered injuries to his intestines, ankles, shoulder and bladder, and he remains in a hospital, according to an online fundraising campaign.
The boy’s mother, Golda Barton, told a dispatcher that she wanted a “crisis intervention officer” sent to her home in the Glendale area of Salt Lake City because her son had threatened to shoot one of her co-workers and break the windows in their home, according to audio also released Monday by the Salt Lake City Police Department. She also said he’d been in a “shootout” in Nevada and a high-speed chase with police.
“He’s sick,” she said. “He needs to go to the hospital.”
It isn’t clear whether the police dispatched to the home were crisis intervention officers, who receive 40 hours of training in mental health issues and policing, according to the department. In the statement released Monday, the department said all new officers are required to attend its crisis intervention academy, but it didn’t say whether any of the officers involved in the Sept. 4 shooting had received that training.
None of the officers involved in the shooting have been identified. It wasn’t clear whether they had been placed on administrative leave while the incident is investigated, as is standard protocol at other law enforcement agencies. The department said it was releasing the video and audio to be transparent.
In the 911 audio, Barton can be heard telling the dispatcher that her father was killed by sheriff’s deputies in Nevada this year and that her son “does not like cops at all.”
“That’s why we need a mental health worker,” she said. “It’s super important.”
Efforts to reach Barton on Monday were unsuccessful, but in an interview with NBC affiliate KSL this month she described the teen’s mental health struggles and said she called 911 after consulting with his psychiatrist.
In the video, Barton can be seen telling the officers that her son was out of control and threatening to break things. When one of the officers asked whether the teen had any weapons, she responded that he had a BB gun but added that it wasn’t real.
“Unfortunately, we have to treat them all as if they are,” the officer said.
In the video, three officers can be seen approaching Barton’s home and knocking on the door. They then run to the back yard, where one can be heard saying the teen had jumped a fence.
The officers chased the teen, who can be seen slowly walking away from them as they order him to the ground. Moments later, one of the officers can be seen firing multiple times and ordering the teen to show his hands after he’s been shot.
“I don’t feel good,” he responds. “Tell my mom I love her.”
