Salt Lake City police release body camera footage of fatal shooting

SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City Police Department released officer-worn body camera footage of a man confronted and fatally shot by multiple officers on Tuesday, April 2. KSL TV is reporting on the footage but not sharing it.

Cameron Ammon Cloward, 36, was shot and killed in a gas station parking lot on the corner of 900 South and State Street before 2:30 that morning. On April 2, police said the man advanced toward officers and said he had a “deadly weapon” and refused to comply with orders.

Footage, also available on the SLCPD YouTube page, shows Cloward walking with what appears to be a knife that he keeps clutched to his chest. In the footage, released from six different officers’ cameras, commands can be heard as they are shouted at Cloward by multiple officers. The dialog below is not comprehensive but representative of all police said to Cloward.

Footage of events leading to fatal shooting

Officer: “Get on the ground, right now, get on the ground.”

Officer: “Get on the ground. Please don’t make us do this. Please. Please put the knife down.”

Cloward: “No.” (It is not clear which command or officer Cloward is responding to.)

Officer: “We will shoot you if you come close.”

Cloward: “I don’t care.”

Officer: “Someone get a less-lethal shotgun.”

Officer: “I will (expletive) shoot you.”

One officer heads to a squad car presumably for a different weapon, while multiple officers have handguns pointed at Cloward. That officer was not able to return before the shooting.

Cloward continues to walk into the parking lot where the gas station lights are on and that appears to be open for business. He drifts slightly in the direction of the store, then toward the gas pump.

Officer: “Stop walking towards us.”

Officer: “I will (expletive) shoot you. Get on the ground.”

Cloward continues to walk into the parking lot in the general direction of officers. He takes approximately 15 steps in the parking, and as he nears the gas pumps, he veers toward officers, who are walking backward with weapons pointed at him.

Officer: “Stop walking toward the store.”

Officer: “You will get shot.”

Officers open fire. After the first shot, multiple officers fired. Cloward falls forward as shots continue. At least 20 shots can be heard. Shots are fired approximately 40 seconds after Cloward is first confronted by police.

Police: Man who had weapon shot, killed by SLC officers after refusing to comply with orders

911 call

The emergency call was also released, featuring a man who called from inside the station. The caller reports that a man tried to stab him with a pocket knife.

“He tried to stab me and wants cigarettes, to give him cigarettes,” the caller said.

The caller sounds shaken and tells the dispatch that he hit the man with the knife in his hand. He also said he was with a woman who is not in any of the body camera videos. The call continues with dispatch until police arrive, and the man with the knife, outside the store’s locked doors, starts walking away, according to the caller. The call ends.

Following protocol, an outside agency will investigate the shooting.

In a statement, SLCPD Chief Mike Brown said:

Any loss of life is tragic, and the use of deadly force is a traumatic event for our officers. This situation unfolded very quickly and involved safety risks to our community and officers. Our officers are trained to perceive, interpret, and respond to a person’s actions. The body-worn camera footage released today shows our officers urging, and ordering, Mr. Cloward to put down his knife and to stop walking toward them. Maintaining the safety of our community can be full of risk and unpredictability.