Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
TAYLORSVILLE — A Taylorsville police officer who exchanged shots with a man who later took his own life was justified in using deadly force, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill announced Friday.
Although officer Benjamin Cameron did not hit 29-year-old Aaron Troy Michael Rehn, the incident was still subject to review because the officer fired his weapon.
About 3:30 a.m. on Nov. 4, 2021, Rehn was at the Speedway gas station, 2187 W. 4700 South, when Cameron attempted to talk to him because Rehn was "acting suspiciously," according to Gill's final report. But Rehn walked away from the officer who then went to look for him. Cameron spotted Rehn standing behind a pine tree and the end of a driveway on a neighboring property.
"I have him hiding behind a tree," Cameron calmly tells dispatchers on his police radio, which was recorded on his body camera.
"Come out here, bud. I see you behind the tree, come out!" Cameron called out.
As the officer approached Rehn, shining his flashlight on him, Rehn went behind another nearby tree, then took off running.
"He's running from me, hopping the fence over to the assisted living," the officer announces on his police radio.
But just as Cameron was relaying that information to dispatchers, and just as he was about to reach Rehn — a little over one minute after his initial contact with him — Rehn turned and fired multiple rounds at the officer. Cameron ran to a nearby building for cover and returned fire. Cameron said, "He shot one-handed and with his hand back while moving away from Mr. Rehn," according to the report.
"I was getting shot at. Felt like I was going to die," he later told investigators, while explaining he believed Rehn was "out to kill."
Cameron said he could hear bullets going past his head and hitting the building he was running next to, the report states. Investigators believe Rehn fired eight times and Cameron fired five. Neither the officer nor Rehn was injured in the exchange of gunfire. Some of the shots hit nearby cars and buildings.
A resident of the nearby assisted living center received minor injuries when a bullet entered his third-floor apartment and shattered a mirror he was standing in front of, sending glass fragments onto him, the report states.
Additional officers from several agencies and the Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter were called to the area to search for Rehn. About 7 a.m., a 12-year-old boy who was getting ready for school spotted Rehn hiding in the window well of his family's home. The boy alerted his parents who called 911.
Rehn fled from the window well, and officers and police K-9s spotted him in the front yard of a residence just a couple of blocks away from where the original confrontation took place. He was sitting in a corner up against a fence.
"Let me see your hands!" an officer calls out to him, as recorded on his body camera video. The officer then notifies dispatchers, "He's got a gun to his head."
"Drop the gun!" the officer yells at him.
But just seconds later, as officers closed in, Rehn shot and killed himself.
"Shot fired. He killed himself," the officer announces on his police radio.
Police say Rehn did not have any warrants out for his arrest at the time nor was he on parole or probation. Gill said he had a chance to meet with Rehn's family prior to a press conference on Friday to announce his findings. The family stated they wanted to apologize to Cameron and believe if their loved one was still alive he would have also apologized for shooting at the officer. According to the family, that was not the kind of person Rehn was.
"The family was incredibly remorseful," Gill said. "He was a young man who had succumbed to the demons of addiction."
Based on the totality of the circumstances, including Rehn firing multiple rounds at police and Cameron believing his life was in immediate danger, Gill concluded the officer was legally justified in using deadly force.
