Bodycam Footage Shows Utah Police Shooting Fleeing Man More Than 20 Times

A video has emerged depicting police officers in Salt Lake City shooting a 22-year-old man at least 20 times in the back as he tried to escape following an alleged robbery.

Bernado Palacios-Carbajal was shot and killed on the 23rd of May while evading police. The authorities were responding to a gun threat in the area when he bolted and they took chase.

During the chase, the police shouted at the suspect to drop what he was carrying, as they saw something in his pocket.

The video went on to show Palacios-Carbajal falling and then getting up twice during the chase. He fell a third time and picked an obscure object from the ground before fleeing once more.

The officers in pursuit opened fire and hit him in the back. One of the officers shouted at Palacios-Carbajal to show his hands as he lay on the ground. They allegedly found a weapon near him when he was down.

According to DNYUZ, the body camera footage from the three pursuing officers did not show he pointed the weapon at them the entire time.

His sister, Elsa Karina Palacios was quite vocal after the incident, saying they did not have to kill her brother. She reiterated the authorities did not have to shoot him so many times, considering he was running and scared.

When asked if she wanted to say something to demonstrators in Salt Lake City that have been protesting police brutality, she answered: “I don’t even know what to say. I just wish he was here.”

The family lawyers Steve McCaughey and Jeremy Delicino said in a statement that Palacios-Carbajal did not pose any threat to the police, and that was why he did not confront them.

They added that it was part of the motivation toward the growing cause to address police brutality in the nation. That entails a change in police tactics and changes to the bias that is within law enforcement.

The two police officers, who opened fire and killed Palacios-Carbajal, have since been placed on administrative leave which is the standard procedure following a police shooting. An investigation into the events that led to the shooting will follow.

Police Chief Mike Brown claimed that he trusted in the investigative process to assess the officers involved in the shooting and those in his department.