Outraged protesters smashed the windows of a Utah government building and smeared red paint to mimic blood after two officers who fatally shot a 22-year-old 34 times in the back as he ran away escaped murder charges because the killing was justified under state law.
One man was injured and two residents were arrested late Thursday night in Salt Lake City after DA Sim Gill announced officers Neil Iversen and Kevin Fortuna would not face charges in the death of Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal.
The decision was a irredeemable blow to community members and activists who for weeks gathered outside the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s office to demand a full investigative report into Palacios-Carbajal’s death.
Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal was gunned down by officers Iversen and Fortuna outside Utah Village Motel in the early hours of May 23 after they responded to reports of a suspect ‘making threats with a weapon’.
Officers shot Palacios-Carbaja three dozen times, hitting him 13 to 15 times, after they claimed he was armed and feared for their lives as he ran away from them.
Gill said under Utah law the use of deadly force by the cops was legally justified.
The law states officers can use deadly force if ‘the suspect has committed a felony offense involving the infliction or threatened infliction of death or serious bodily injury,’ to ‘prevent the escape’ of a suspect or if ‘the suspect poses a threat of death or serious bodily injury to the officer or to others,’ he said.
‘In this case, it is justified under the statute,’ Gill said.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports protest organizer Sofia Alcalá vowed some sort of civil disobedience after the DA’s decision was revealed.
‘They will feel the wrath of the f****** community today,’ she warned.
A video shared by Attorney T. Greg Docette appeared to show Salt Lake City police officers charging at a group of peaceful protesters and beating them with batons.
‘Another view of [744] in Salt Lake City UT, as police charge and beat unarmed protesters for the heinous crime of saying the word “s***” loudly,’ wrote Doucette on Twitter.
‘The cops are still rioting…’
Footage shows a group of demonstrators chanting ‘Don’t start no s***, Won’t be no s***’ across from a human wall of police officers donning riot gear and shields.
Suddenly, the line of officers rush at the protesters and begin roughly shoving people with their shields and batons.
Demonstrators are heard screaming in fear as admonish officers for using such brute force on peaceful protesters.
‘What is wrong with you? These are peaceful protesters!’ one man shouts. A woman standing in front of him is immediately hit with a baton.
The group of demonstrators then link arms to form a human barricade in defiance of the officers. They chant: ‘Unified power’ and ‘Justice for Bernardo.’
The footage ends with officers once again charging the crowd while protesters scream out. Some protesters used a bicycle to try ward off officers, according to KSL.com.
Before that moment, scores of protesters waited outside the DA’s office on Thursday in hopes of murder charges, but were let down by the announcement – expanding on the growing divide between law enforcement and civilians since George Floyd’s death in May.
As a result, protesters stuck true to their promise of ‘No Justice, No Peace’ and held demonstrations so fraught with ‘civil unrest’ that the Utah’s governor issued an emergency order.
Around 150 residents descended upon the DA’s office after 6pm hoisting signs demanding justice, as well as chanting ‘How many shots? 34!’
The streets of Salt Lake City turned red as protesters spilled paint in front of the DA’s office to smear it across the entrance steps, sidewalks and doorways.
The red paint, according to protesters, was symbolic of the blood on DA Sim Gill’s hands after he did not file charges against the officers.
Red hand prints were seen on the building’s entrance sign along with photo of Palacios-Carbajal.
Messages scrawled in paint read ‘too much blood,’ ‘Sim Gill you killed,’ ‘Abolish all cops’ and ‘Respect Existence or Expect Resistance.’
The glass doors of the DA’s office were covered in protest signs declaring Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police.
Organizers had given speeches to the growing crowd – now around 300 – proclaiming Palacios-Carbajal should not be dead and police could have relied on non-lethal force, like using a stun gun or tackling him.
They wondered where Palacios-Carbajal would be now if officers Iversen and Fortuna had used a Taze gun instead.
Then, protesters shatter three glass windows of the DA’s office just as vans full of officers arrived at the scene.
Police Chief Mike Brown said this is what caused city officials to declared the event an ‘unlawful assembly’ and attempt to shut it down.
‘It was my sincere hope that the protest tonight would remain peaceful as it has night after night, Brown wrote on Twitter.
‘Sadly, as they began to break windows at [Salt Lake County District Attorney] office, we declared it an unlawful assembly.’
The two groups meeting only resulted in clashes as police helicopters whirled overhead and protesters shouted ‘We ain’t scared!’
Protesters reportedly threw bottles, pieces of wood and other debris at officers and refused to leave the area.
‘Objects are being used against us, force will be used against you,’ one officer reportedly said.
Some officers were injured, reportedly prompting police to respond by shoving some to the ground and striking them with clubs.
A police car intentionally rammed into a protester’s vehicle that was being used as a barricade.
The Salt Lake City Police Department said an unspecified amount of officers were hit with pepper spray.
One injured protester had to be carried away, while one police officer went to the hospital for treatment.
Two residents were arrested during the commotion, but their identities and the reason why were not disclosed.
A video shared to Facebook appeared to show Sofia Alcalá handcuffed by officers who said she was being taken in for ‘destruction of property.’
Earlier, protesters shared a permanent marker to write down phone numbers on their arms in case they were taken into police custody.
Activists on Twitter shared tips on how to hide their identities and stopped media crews from filming certain aspects of the protest.
One group surrounded a handful of broadcast reporter with umbrellas to block their cameras after Salt Lake City police used footage from previous protests to build cases in recent arrests.
Authorities, sensing a volatile confrontation, had told local media about the riot gear.
City managers told staffers in an email that they would work from home on Thursday and Friday to stay away from skirmishes.
The mounting tension between civilians and law enforcement proved to much for Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, who declared a State of Emergency Thursday night.
The order closed off Utah State Capitol ground and allowed the Utah Department of Public Safety to mobilize.
The order stated ‘recent protests have become violent and the civil unrest has resulted in bodily injury and destruction of private and public property, including extensive defacement of a Utah State Capitol building.’
The executive order will remain in effect until July 13 at 11:59pm.
Bodycam footage released by police in June showed the two cops arriving on the scene outside the Utah Village Motel and spotting a man – Palacios-Carbajal – immediately run from them across the parking lot.
The cops went in pursuit of him on foot with their guns drawn, as one officer says over police radio that he is armed.
‘He’s got a gun in his pocket. He’s reaching in his right…’ the cop is heard saying.
The chase continues into an alley and the cops are heard shouting ‘stop,’ ‘show me your hands’ or ‘drop it’ a total of 17 times.
When they reach the parking lot of Granary Storage Palacios-Carbajal stumbles and falls before he gets up and falls again.
Palacios-Carbajal stumbles and falls before he gets up and falls again. One officer shouts to taser him but moments later a hail of gunfire rings out
The cops went in pursuit of him on foot with their guns drawn, as one officer says over police radio that the suspect is armed
One officer shouts to taser him but moments later a hail of gunfire rings out.
Palacios-Carbajal’s family called for the officers to be charged over his killing, pointing out that he was running away when they shot him and that bodycam footage does not show him pointing a weapon during the chase.
The family said they plan to sue the police department and vowed to work with protesters to reform authorities policies.
‘It’s not a correct decision that [Gill] made, and we will continue fighting,’ Lucy Carbajal, his mother, said in Spanish to the Salt Lake Tribune.
‘And even though my son isn’t here, he gives us the right to continue fighting so mothers like me do not lose their sons, like they killed my son. That was cowardice.’