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ST. GEORGE — After a multi-week investigation by the Iron County Critical Incident Task Force, the Iron County Attorney’s Office has come to a conclusion in regard to November’s fatal officer-involved shooting.
In a Nov. 27 letter to Cedar City Police Chief Darin M. Adams, Iron County Attorney Chad Dotson relayed the findings of the Critical Incident Task Force – a team comprised of representatives from several law enforcement agencies within the county other than the Cedar City Police Department. Dotson wrote that Cedar City Police Officer Zachary Banz, the officer who fired the shots in the Nov. 11 incident, “was legally justified,” in using deadly force against 56-year-old James Aubrey Sr.
Banz has been on administrative leave since the incident took place.
Dotson went on to say in the statement that the county attorney’s office “will not institute a criminal prosecution against him.”
The investigation stems from an incident on Nov. 11 in which officers responded to a residence on 820 South and Sunset Boulevard. A woman had called the Cedar City Emergency Dispatch Center to report that her husband was making threats toward her and her son, as well as toward law enforcement. During the confrontation, Aubrey was shot and killed.
