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Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal: Utah cops seen shooting 20 rounds at youth after he falls down while fleeing

Police responded to reports of a gun threat and chased Bernardo for several blocks when he ran from a motel.
PUBLISHED JUN 8, 2020
(Salt Lake Police Department)
(Salt Lake Police Department)

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH: Bodycam footage has emerged of Salt Lake City cops firing at least 20 rounds at a 22-year-old suspect who was trying to flee from them after an alleged armed robbery at a strip club.

According to a report by the Salt Lake Tribune, Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal was shot to death on May 23 after police responded to reports of a gun threat and chased him for several blocks when he ran from a motel.

One officer is heard in the video yelling “show me your hands!” as Palacios-Carbajal starts to flee from the Utah Village Motel at about 2 am, per the newspaper.

You can watch the video here.

The cops, in the midst of the pursuit, shout at the suspect to "drop it!" after allegedly seeing something in his pocket.

Palacios-Carbajal is seen in the footage falling and getting up twice during the pursuit. After falling a third time, he is seen picking an object from the ground and continuing to run, thereby defying the cops' orders. The officers then proceed to open fire and hit him in the back, per the report.

“Show me your f—ing hands!” one officer is heard shouting at the suspect, as he lies on the ground.

While it didn't appear that Palacios-Carbajal pointed a gun at the cops based on bodycam footage, police said they found a weapon near him after he was immobilized, per the Tribune. Speaking to the paper, Bernardo's sister Elsa Karina Palacios said "they didn't have to kill him."

“They didn’t have to shoot him so many times," she said after watching the video. "He was running. He was scared. He would still be here.”

Elsa was asked if she had a message for demonstrators who have been protesting police brutality in Salt Lake City. “I don’t even know what to say. I just wish he was here," she said in response.

Meanwhile, family attorneys Jeremy Delicino and Steve McCaughey said that Palacios-Carbajal posed no threat to the officers.

“He did not even turn to face them,” they said in a statement. “He ran away from them and yet was shot in the back before falling to the ground. And then Bernardo, lying lifeless on the asphalt, was shot more.”

“It is now up to all of us, already grieving over the loss of so many young men to police brutality, to demand change," they added. "A change to police tactics... changes to the bias that pervades our police forces. A change to the system that has all too often allowed officers to escape discipline and prosecution."

According to the paper, the two cops who opened fire have been put on administrative leave while an investigation into the incident is underway.

“I trust our training. I trust in the investigative process we have in place to address officer-involved critical incidents. Most importantly, I trust our officers,” Police Chief Mike Brown said on June 5.

However, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said a swift probe was necessary so “everyone can get the answers that they deserve in a timely manner.”

The mayor called the footage “genuinely disturbing and upsetting" and extended an apology to Palacios-Carbajal’s family.

“Right now, given all that our country is going through, in particular the rawness and fear that so many people of color are feeling, outrage is understandable,” she said.

Various activist groups such as Rose Park Brown Berets and Utah Against Police Brutality said they gave the family some time to grieve but came back on the streets protesting on Saturday, June 6.

However, hundreds of protesters came together near the Capitol on June 5 early evening and mourned Palacios-Carbajal’s before heading downtown. 

According to the paper, several held white signs that declared in red type, "Justice for Bernardo."

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