Salt Lake City officers shoot man after mental health outreach team requests police backup
Police didn’t provide further details about what led up to the shooting.
(Kolbie Peterson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Investigators discuss a Salt Lake City police shooting that happened at about 900 East and 1700 South on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022.
Two Salt Lake City police officers shot and injured a man Tuesday in Sugar House after a mobile crisis outreach team called for police backup, a police spokesperson said at the scene.
The shooting happened around 11:30 am near 900 East and 1700 South, after police said the mobile crisis outreach team with the Huntsman Mental Health Institute was already in the area and called Salt Lake City police for backup, the police spokesperson said.
Mobile crisis outreach teams provide support to people who are experiencing a mental health crisis, police said. It was unclear as of Tuesday afternoon why the outreach team was initially in the area, or why they requested police backup.
(Kolbie Peterson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Detective Michelle Peterson gives an update to media about a shooting that happened in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022.
After police arrived to the area, two officers shot the man, the spokesperson said. Police didn’t specify where exactly the shooting happened, whether the man was armed, and if so, whether the man returned fire at the officers. No officers were injured in the shooting.
It’s also unclear whether the man shot by police was related to why the mobile crisis outreach team had initially been deployed to the area. Police did not provide more information, and did not share more details about what led to the shooting.
After the shooting, officers responding along with Salt Lake City Fire Department personnel provided first aid to the man before he was taken to a local hospital. Police said he suffered serious injuries. He was not identified as of Tuesday afternoon.
The two Salt Lake City officers who opened fire have been placed on administrative leave in accordance with standard procedure, the police spokesperson said.
According to the Huntsman Mental Health Institute, when a call comes in to the Utah Crisis Line, which could result in a mobile outreach team deploying, “thorough” risk assessments are conducted over the phone to determine whether it would be safe for a team to respond, Rachel Lucynski, the institute’s director of community crisis services, said.
“It is an outlier when law enforcement support and backup is requested, but it does happen…” Lucynski said. “Generally speaking, our [mobile crisis outreach team] staff will call law enforcement for backup or on-site support if a risk assessment determines that there could be a potential safety threat for our staff.”
Lucynski did not provide more details about the nature of the Tuesday call that later resulted in a police shooting.
This marked the 16th police shooting in Utah so far this year, according to a database maintained by The Salt Lake Tribune.
(Kolbie Peterson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Police vehicles surround the scene of a shooting at about 900 East and 1700 South on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022.
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