Salt Lake officers found justified in killing man in dangerous domestic violence call

SALT LAKE CITY — Two Salt Lake police officers were found to be legally justified in shooting and killing a man who broke into his estranged wife's home and threatened to harm her and set himself on fire.

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill announced on Friday that no charges will be filed against officers Mark Ingersoll and Wyatt Kesti for fatally shooting Christian Thomas Allen during a domestic violence call that Gill described as a "highly dramatic tension-filled situation."

Just after midnight on May 27, a woman called 911, saying that her estranged husband, Allen, 60, was trying to break into her home at 2963 S. Judith Street. The woman had a protective order against Allen.

"My husband is breaking into my house," she tells the emergency dispatcher in a recording of the call. "He has threatened to kill me."

The ex-wife soon begins speaking in whispers to the dispatcher when she realizes, "He's in the house." The woman then locks herself and her two children, ages 15 and 17, in a bedroom. At one point Gill says the two teen boys braced themselves against the door in case Allen tried to enter.

In the background, Allen can be heard yelling statements such as, "This is what you get," and, "Why did you do this to me?" At one point, the woman tells the dispatcher that he has gasoline in the house and that Allen claimed he was going to light himself on fire and burn the house down.

"I went down to Chevron and poured gasoline all over myself. I got gasoline all over me and I'm going to light myself on fire and burn the house (inaudible). This is your … fault," he is heard yelling.

Police would later learn that Allen had carjacked a van at the Chevron after dousing himself with gasoline and drove it to his estranged wife's house.

When police arrived, two officers went to the front door and another two officers went to the backyard, all with their guns drawn. The officers found a ground-level basement window that was broken, which they assumed was the way Allen got in. An officer then saw movement in the house and heard a man saying, "You'll have to shoot me," according to Gill's report.

The officers then heard several noises from inside the house.

"There's active, kick the door," Kesti is heard saying on body camera video.

At that point, Ingersoll kicks the back door open while another officer kicks open the front door in the video. Allen is spotted in the narrow hallway raising a knife.

As soon as Ingersoll confronts Allen and tells him to drop the knife, "Allen raised the knife and began charging toward him across the kitchen," according Gill's report.

Ingersoll and Kesti each fired six rounds, fatally striking Allen. An autopsy determined Allen suffered nine gunshot wounds.

Although both officers declined to be interviewed as part of the shooting investigation, body camera videos from each officer were reviewed as part of Gill's report.

At a press conference on Friday to go over his team's investigation, Gill said he had met with the estranged wife who was extremely grateful for the officers' actions. She told investigators that just before police entered the house, Allen had come up to the door she and her children were hiding behind and told them, "I'm not going to hurt you guys I'm going to make them shoot me," Gill said.

Allen said he wanted to "go out by suicide-by-cop," according to Gill, and he wanted his estranged family members to "experience" it.

Gill says there are several community resources available for people in domestic violence situations. He also gave praise to the woman and her children for having a safety plan in place.

"One of the things that you really want to do is to have a safety plan worked out. So you don't want to be trying to figure out what to do when there's a breach that that occurs, or when that situation escalated," he said. "If something like this happens, 'What am I go going to do? Who am I going to go to? Where am I going to find safety and shelter?' And articulating that and rehearsing that is really important because when that volatile situation happens, you don't want to be trying to figure out what to do."

Correction: Allen and the woman were separated at the time of the shooting but not divorced. An earlier version stated otherwise.

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