Violent mob vandalizes DA’s office and attack police with pepper spray after the shooting death of Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal by police was ruled as justified.
Police were dispatched to a local Salt Lake City motel after a report came in of a man making threats while armed with a gun.
He was also suspected of robbing a man at gunpoint earlier in the day. Police found the victim’s ID and cash on Palacios-Carbajal after his death.
Police confronted Palacios-Carbajal and he began to run. He fell and then police could hear a thud.
The third time he fell and dropped something, the police could see it was a gun. Multiple times he was ordered to drop the gun and show his hands but he refused each time.
The DA’s office cited a law that allows police to use deadly force in cases such as this when the lives of the police and others are threatened.
That did not matter to the mob. We are now at the point where every police shooting, nom matter how justified is a reason to destroy property.
What are they protesting?
— Alison lucas (@sewalisonl) July 10, 2020
Protestors paint 500 South red to protest Sim Gill’s decision, calling the shooting of Bernardo Palacios Carbajal justified. pic.twitter.com/jgr0lvSo4J
— Paul Nelson (@KSLPaul) July 10, 2020
Protests underway after Palacios shooting ruled justified… #SaltlakeCity #Utah #USA pic.twitter.com/qbpLWNgOUX
— Tocamelaotravez (@tocamelaotravez) July 10, 2020
Protesters continue to block our cameras while yelling “THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE.” #SaltLakeCity #Utah pic.twitter.com/PmExdFIvIE
— Michael Locklear (@MichaelLocklear) July 10, 2020
“The bar is letting out. There’s people in the parking lot. There’s people across the street. There’s traffic,” Gill said. “Officer Iversen later explained, ‘There’s only one reason someone is going to pick up a gun three times being chased by police being told to drop it. He’s going to try to kill me.’”
Officer Fortuna and Officer Iversen each fired “six to eight shots,” according to Gill. Officers rendered medical aid until emergency medical services arrived.
Gill said he believes Palacios may have been trying to fire back at police after he was shot.
“We asked them pointedly, ‘Did you see the gun being oriented towards you?'” Gill said. “They said, ‘Yes, we saw it being pointed towards us, and that’s why we continued to fire to abate the threat.'”
