SLC Police Release Body Camera Footage Of Fatal Officer-Involved Shooting
Aug 7, 2020, 12:40 PM | Updated: 9:41 pm
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Police on Friday released body-camera footage of a fatal officer-involved shooting in July.
The shooting took place after officers responded to call of two men fighting — one of whom had a knife.
An employee at the downtown Smith’s called police around 9 a.m. on July 25 to report two men had stolen items from the store and were getting into a fight with each other.
“The loss prevention person said the suspects left the store together and described the knife as being the length of a forearm,” said Captain Richard Lewis with the Salt Lake City Police Department during a press conference where the video was released.
A responding officer arrived and found the two men in the area of 500 East and 500 South.
Police have released body cam footage of an officer-involved shooting in Salt Lake City last month. @laddegan is gathering additional details and will have those for you this evening on #KSLTV https://t.co/WviJ0s1BgN
— KSL 5 TV (@KSL5TV) August 7, 2020
Body camera footage showed one of the men with what appeared to be a knife pointed at the back of the other man.
When the first officer confronted the two, police said the man with the knife grabbed the second man and held the knife to his throat.
“He’s got a hostage,” the officer can be heard saying into his police radio.
A second officer then arrived, and can be heard on the body camera footage telling the suspect, “It’s not worth it.”
“Both officers gave several verbal commands to the suspect to stop and drop the knife,” Lewis said.
Police said the first shot hit the suspect, but he continued to hold the victim at knifepoint.
“Both officers discharged their weapons and the hostage broke free and the suspect fell to the ground,” Lewis said.
The suspect who was killed was identified as Andrew Jacob Preece, 34.
The second man appeared to be uninjured, although information about his condition at the time has not been released.
This case is still an active investigation with several agencies, including the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, conducting independent reviews.
