By Police1 Staff
SALT LAKE CITY — Police released footage Monday of a Feb. 27, 2016 shooting of an armed 17-year-old.
According to The Salt Lake City Tribune, Abdullahi “Abdi” Mohamed, now 18, allegedly assaulted a man with a hollow metal rod after a drug purchase dispute outside a homeless shelter.
The body cam shows two officers running toward Mohamed, telling him to drop the weapon multiple times. He didn’t comply and police shot him.
Mohamed was treated at a local hospital and released to police.
The publication reported the footage was released after the ACLU filed an open records lawsuit.
After a month-long fight with the DA, the State Records Committee approved the release.
DA Sim Gill said it was “critical for the evidence to remain private because releasing it could affect Mohamed’s right to a fair trial.”
“We have always said this case presented a very close, nuanced and complicated balancing act between the statutory rights of the public versus the constitutional rights of the juvenile,” Gill said. “We have consistently maintained that we would release all information once we were confident that doing so would not violate the rights of the accused or compromise the integrity of the process.”
Mohamed is charged with first-degree felony aggravated robbery and second-degree felony possession with intent to distribute. A judge will determine next month if his case will stay in juvenile court or move to the adult system.