By Matthew Impelli
Life & Trends Reporter
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The Salt Lake City County District Attorney ruled on Thursday that the police's use of force that resulted in the death of Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal in May was "justified."
"We conclude that Officer [Kevin] Fortuna and Officer [Neil] Iversen's use of deadly force satisfies Utah state law," Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said during a press conference on Thursday.
Gill also mentioned that no criminal charges will be brought against either of the officers.
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The district attorney's ruling stems from a May 23 incident in which the Salt Lake City Police Department received a report of a man pointing a gun at another individual and making threats.
When authorities arrived at the scene, they encountered Palacios-Carbajal who they said was the suspect. Palacios-Carbajal fled shortly after and was chased down by three officers.
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Police said during their pursuit of Palacios-Carbajal that they gave him multiple verbal commands to stop running and to put his hands up. According to authorities, the officers chasing Palacios-Carbajal saw him drop an object and pick it up, that was later identified as a gun.
In body cam footage of the incident, Palacios-Carbajal can be seen stumbling multiple times as well as reaching for his gun.
Just moments prior to his death, Palacios-Carbajal can be seen falling and picking up his gun for a third and final time. As Fortuna and Iversen saw him reach for his gun while on the ground, they shot him 20 times.
During the press conference on Thursday, Gill explained "the desire to retrieve the gun was greater than the desire to run away."
"We believe that it meets that the statutory elements of a justified use of deadly force," Gill also said. "We conclude that Office Fortuna and Officer Iversen believed that deadly force was necessary to prevent their death or serious bodily injury and/or death or serious bodily injury to others was a reasonable belief under Utah law."
The ruling on Thursday came shortly after protesters called for justice over the death of Palacios-Carbajal.
"We want to get justice for him because he could still be alive. He could still be here. What they did, it wasn't right. After watching the videos, it wasn't right," Karina Palacios, a sister of Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal, told KSL News Radio in Utah.
After the footage of the incident was released to the public, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall called it "genuinely disturbing and upsetting," while also apologizing to Palacios-Carbajal's family.
Newsweek reached out to the district attorney's office for further comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
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