- Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill ruled that officers were legally justified in a April 2, 2024, police shooting.
- Officers shot Cameron Cloward, who refused to drop a knife, 18 times.
- Body camera footage shows Cloward advancing on officers despite warnings.
SALT LAKE CITY — Four Salt Lake police officers have been found to be legally justified in shooting and killing a man who refused to drop his knife while walking toward the officers.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill announced Friday that officers Landon Gates, Daniel Thomas, Zander Nunley and Bradley Bungard will not face any charges in connection with the shooting of 35-year-old Cameron Ammon Cloward.
On April 2, 2024, an employee at Chevron, 875 S. State, called 911 about 2:30 a.m. to report that Cloward had tried to stab him.
The first arriving officer spotted Cloward and ordered him at gunpoint to drop the knife, but Cloward continued walking away from the officer, according to Gill's final report and body camera video.
As several backup officers arrived, they repeatedly yelled commands such as "Put the knife down," "Get on the ground," and "We will shoot you if you come close," according to the video
Another officer is heard pleading with Cloward, "Please don't make us do this. Please, please put the knife down."
"Mr. Cloward then turned back around to face officer Gates and officer Thomas and began to move toward them while holding the knife high on the center of his chest with both hands around the grip and the blade pointed out. Officer Gates and Thomas continued to yell commands and warned that they would shoot him if he got close. However, Mr. Cloward continued to refuse to comply, telling them, 'No' and 'I don't care' multiple times, while continuing to hold the knife up, with the blade pointed out," the report states.
Approximately 11 seconds after Cloward starts walking, and moments after stepping directly toward police, four officers fire their weapons, killing Cloward.
One officer fired nine rounds, a second fired 16, a third officer fired six times, and the fourth officer fired four times, according to the report. An autopsy determined that Cloward was shot 18 times.
None of the four officers who fired their weapons agreed to speak with investigators for the district attorney's report. One officer who was on scene but did not shoot said the officers were backing up as Cloward was "advancing at them, walking toward them."
"I see officers with their firearms out and can see a male individual holding what looked like a knife, kind of in this general area, I would say like up, but closer to his body," the officer said, according to the report.
A second officer on scene said that Cloward "was uncompliant and he was just refusing to do what they were telling me to do, which was get on the ground, drop the weapon, get on the ground, drop the weapon, put your hands on the ground, and he wouldn't do that," the report states.
Based on body camera video and other evidence, Gill concluded that "the totality of the facts in this case, taken together with reasonable inferences about the involved officers' decisions to use deadly force, would likely cause a jury to determine that their use of deadly force satisfies the elements of the affirmative legal defense of justification," according to the report.
During a press conference on Friday to go over his report, Gill said his office made multiple attempts to meet with Cloward's family before the final report was released but they declined. He said Cloward "was one of those individuals who had been suffering from mental health issues for a period of time in our criminal justice system."
