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Darrien Hunt did swing a sword at Saratoga Springs police, but that was not the point at which the officers shot him to death, Deputy Utah County Attorney Tim Taylor said this week.
The investigation into the September shooting of Hunt, 22, likely will not conclude for several weeks as Taylor awaits a medical examiner's report that he says is crucial to his findings. But investigators have completed all witness interviews and are drafting a summary, Taylor said.
"Darrien pulled out his sword and swung it at officers," Taylor told The Tribune. "After that there was a pursuit."
Taylor would not discuss the distance or duration of the foot chase, or what happened during the chase immediately before Hunt was shot, saying only that "the scene takes place over a certain distance."
However, Taylor did dispel rumors that Hunt used the sword, which his relatives describe as an ornamental "toy" katana, to threaten bystanders during the confrontation with officers.
"I have not heard that," Taylor said.
A passer-by called 911 about 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 10 to report Hunt was walking with a "samurai" sword near Walmart at Redwood Road and State Road 73, according to an emergency dispatch recording released last week.
Cpl. Matthew Schauerhamer and Officer Nicholas Judson confronted Hunt at an adjacent shopping area; he was shot near a Panda Express restaurant.
Taylor said he cannot rule yet on whether the shooting is justified or not because an autopsy is necessary to settle a crucial question: whether Hunt was shot from the front or from behind.
"When you have wounds to a body that go all the way through the body, you need to know from what direction the bullet is entering the body," Taylor has said.
He expects the autopsy report, combined with ballistic reports and witness statements, will be important to establishing which wounds were entry wounds and which were exit wounds.
Taylor said surveillance video from the scene provides only minimal detail of the encounter. The officers apparently were not wearing body cameras, although the department has been experimenting with "a few" cameras bought with a grant, Saratoga Springs Police Chief Andrew Burton has said.
Hunt's family commissioned a private autopsy, which they say showed Hunt was shot from behind. Robert Sykes, their attorney, said the autopsy showed Hunt was shot once in the wrist and five times in the back. Hunt's family also has said witnesses reported Hunt was running from police when he was shot.
Taylor's finding that a foot chase preceded the shooting "supports our position that he was shot in the back while he was running, which makes it more likely that it was not justified," Sykes said.
The Saratoga Springs Police Department declined comment while the investigation is underway.
The shooting of Hunt, who was black, has become another controversy in a nationwide discussion of race and law enforcement tactics that began with the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and spread as subsequent shootings elsewhere raised questions about use of force by police.
Hunt's shooting has gained national attention, along with two other shootings by Utah police: the August shooting, later deemed by prosecutors to be justified, of unarmed 20-year-old Dillon Taylor by Salt Lake City police; and the criminal case, dismissed Thursday, against former West Valley City police Det. Shaun Cowley, who fatally shot 19-year-old Danielle Willard in her car in a parking lot in 2012.
Hunt's family alleges that police felt inordinately threatened by Hunt because of his race, and that he was carrying the sword while "cosplaying," or costumed role playing. They point to similarities between his apparel that day and that of a popular anime character.
They also say the sword was not a weapon but a costume accessory with a rounded blade that could not cut.
"This is, as far as I can see it, an outrageous exercise of unnecessary, deadly force," Sykes said. "I just do not understand it."
Twitter: @erinalberty