Utah prosecutors announced Monday that officers were justified in fatally shooting a young man who was wielding a sword as part of a Japanese anime costume.
Two Saratoga Springs officers feared for their lives and the safety of others in the bustling shopping center where the encounter occurred when they fired seven shots at 22-year-old Darrien Hunt on Sept. 10, Utah County Attorney Jeff Buhman said Monday in a news conference.
The shooting has prompting accusations from Hunt’s family that he was treated differently because of his race and that his actions didn’t warrant deadly force. Hunt was Black and the two officers are White.
The Hunt family plans to file a civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit, said attorney Bob Sykes, who told reporters Monday that a jury would disagree with the finding that the shooting was justified.
