Armed man shot by Salt Lake City police identified

SALT LAKE CITY — A 37-year-old man who was shot by Salt Lake City police has been placed under arrest.

Dallas Clint Fowers was arrested for investigation of assault on an officer, criminal mischief and failing to stop for police.

On Monday, at about 8:20 p.m, Salt Lake City police were called to Burger King, 575 East 400 South, "regarding a possible intoxicated driver and a reported vehicle vandalism," according to a police booking affidavit. A man, later identified as Fowers, was reported to be "acting strangely and appeared incoherent while vandalizing a vehicle in the parking lot," the affidavit states.

Witnesses say Fowers approached a vehicle "used an unknown object to scratch its hood, and wrote the word 'God' and a dollar sign symbol on it with a marker," according to the affidavit.

When the occupants of the vehicle confronted Fowers, they say he "turned toward them aggressively, assumed what they described as a 'fighting stance,' and placed a hand near his right pocket or waistband. Dallas also yelled incoherently at them," police stated in their affidavit.

When Salt Lake City police officers arrived a shot time later, they found Fowers walking along the north side of Burger King and ordered him to stop and get on the ground.

"Body worn camera footage shows an unidentified object in Dallas's left hand and an open knife in his right hand. The knife's blade appeared silver in color. Dallas did not comply and continued walking backward. He then took a short step toward (an officer) before stopping and backing away several feet," according to the affidavit.

Fowers told the officers not to come near him "while holding the knife in his extended right hand in an aggressive manner" and continued to walk backward while saying he had done nothing wrong, the affidavit states.

"He continued holding the knife in his right hand and did not release it. Officers repeatedly commanded Dallas to stop, drop the knife, and get on the ground. Dallas did not comply," according to the affidavit.

Four Taser prongs were deployed into Fowers but did not stop him, according to police. He then ran away from officers across 600 East.

"Dallas continued eastbound into the Café Zupas parking lot. Officers continued commanding him to stop, drop the knife, and get on the ground. Dallas did not comply, running eastbound into the occupied parking lot. Multiple people were observed in the path of Dallas. Multiple officers discharged their firearms toward Dallas. Dallas was struck multiple times and fell to the ground," according to the affidavit.

Salt Lake City police stated Tuesday that two officers fired their weapons and Fowers was taken to a local hostel with "non-life threatening injuries." The officers were placed on standard paid administrative leave.

Police say after reviewing body cam videos from officers as well as video recorded by a drone, "the area is observed to have multiple occupied vehicles, along with pedestrians in close proximity to Dallas," the affidavit states. "Dallas was ordered multiple times to stop, get on the ground and drop the knife. Dallas refused to comply, instead attempting to elude his arrest by law enforcement."

"We are aware of reports that a non-involved vehicle was struck during the incident. As a department we will account for every round, and we are cooperating with the protocol team to determine exactly what happened," police stated Tuesday. "In the meantime, we have reached out to the individuals involved to provide resources available to them through the city. We are committed to making sure they are taken care of."

Unified police are conducting the investigation into the police shooting.

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