Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill ruled Friday that two West Jordan police officers were justified when they shot and killed a man who wounded an officer in a shootout last April.
But the gun used to open fire on the officer was stolen, and Gill said during a Friday news conference there is “room for improvement” for state policies regarding the liability of gun owners as Utah’s latest legislative session is underway.
On the morning of April 22, authorities responded to a call of a suspicious man checking cars near an apartment complex near 3258 W. Jordan Line Parkway, according to court documents provided by the district attorney’s office. Two West Jordan police officers spoke with a man who matched the call’s description and the man gave the officers a fake name — but officer Chris Trujillo recognized the man as Michael Kenneth Lee, and told the man he was lying, documents state.
Lee then took off running, body camera footage shows. As the officers attempted to take Lee to the ground, Lee pulled out a gun and shot Trujillo in the lower leg.
”I just remember thinking, if I let this guy stand up, he’s gonna kill me or he’s gonna kill [the other officer],” Trujillo said in a statement to the District Attorney. “I knew what his history was prior from dealing with him... He had made the determination that he didn’t want to go back into custody.”
The other officer fell to the ground during the struggle, and Lee attempted to get away, but the injured officer then shot at Lee eight times, documents state. Body camera footage showed another responding officer also fired one shot, and Lee fell to the ground as other officers moved to apply a tourniquet to the wounded police officer.
First responders provided aid to both Trujillo and Lee, but Lee was pronounced dead at the scene, according to documents from the district attorney’s office. Gill said his office believed the officers’ use of force was appropriate and declined to file charges.
Lee had been arrested days before the shootout on a misdemeanor, Gill said. Lee also had a lengthy criminal history, court records show, and was a “documented gang member,” one police officer said in documents provided by Gill’s office.
Gill said the county jail only has 2,000 beds — and those beds go to individuals who have committed “major crimes,” like first-degree felonies. It’s up to lawmakers to decide if they need more jail beds for individuals who commit lesser crimes more often, Gill said.
And it’s also up to lawmakers to decide if Utah should hold gun owners who don’t secure their firearms accountable, he continued.
”Our Legislature is in the best position to make some policy determination of how we want to address this issue,” Gill said.
”There’s been several incidents of use-of-force where officers have been shot, and they’ve been shot because guns were left unattended,” Gill continued. “If people have their gun stolen, they don’t report them in a timely fashion or if they don’t secure them — those are policy things. What I have to deal with and what law enforcement has to deal with is the collateral consequences of that. So there’s room for improvement there.”
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