Salt Lake City officers shot a man after a mental health group requested police backup | Media Pyro

The shooting happened in the garage of Sugar House, police said.

Two Salt Lake City police officers shot and critically wounded a 37-year-old man at Sugar House on Tuesday after the Mobile Crisis Outreach Team called for police backup, a police spokesman said at the scene.

The shooting happened just after 11:30 a.m. at a home near 900 East and 1700 South, police said, and a mobile crisis outreach team from Huntsman Mental Health Institute was already in the area and called Salt Lake City police for backup. Said.

Mobile Crisis Outreach Teams consist of trained, licensed clinicians and peer support specialists who provide support to people experiencing a mental health crisis. It was unclear as of Tuesday why the outreach team responded to the home in the first place.

When the outreach team arrived, the 37-year-old man was in the detached garage of the home. He was contacted by responding social workers and family members, police said. It’s unclear what prompted the outreach team to request police backup.

When police arrived, they met social workers and family members, who together escorted officers to a detached garage, police said.

Police said social workers and a relative spoke to him inside the garage. That’s when he came with a weapon, police said. The two officers then opened fire.

It is not clear what type of weapon he was reaching for; Police did not specify. No officers were injured in the shooting.

“Today, our officers took action to protect two social workers and a family member in a split-second incident,” Police Chief Mike Brown said in a statement Tuesday evening.

“Social workers asked our officers to respond to this call for their protection and assistance,” Brown said in a statement. “These are situations that can never be predicted, but our two officers involved relied on their training and experience to protect others and themselves.”

After the shooting, responding officers and Salt Lake City Fire Department personnel administered first aid before transporting the man to a local hospital. Police said they have not identified the man. He was seriously injured.

A police spokesman said the two Salt Lake City officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave per department procedures.

According to the Huntsman Mental Health Institute, when a call comes in to the Utah Crisis Line, a mobile outreach team may be deployed, which conducts “thorough” risk assessments over the phone to determine if a team is safe. Respond, said Rachel Lucinski, director of the institute’s community crisis services.

“It’s an oddity to request law enforcement support and backup, but it does happen,” Lucinski said. “Generally speaking, ours [mobile crisis outreach team] If a risk assessment determines that there is a potential security threat to our employees, employees will call law enforcement for backup or on-site support.

Lucinski did not provide further details about the nature of the crisis line call that later resulted in the police shooting.

This is the 16th police shooting in Utah so far this year, according to a database maintained by the Salt Lake Tribune.