Salt Lake City officers shoot man after mental health outreach team requests police backup

Police did not provide further details about what led up to the shooting.

Two Salt Lake City police officers shot and wounded a man Tuesday at the Sugar House after a mobile crisis relief team called for police backup, a police spokesman at the scene said.

The shooting happened around 11:30 a.m. near 900 East and 1700 South, after police said the Huntsman Institute of Mental Health Mobile Crisis Outreach Team was already in the area and called Salt Police. Lake City to call for backup, the police spokesman said.

Mobile crisis outreach teams provide support to people who are experiencing a mental health crisis, police said. As of Tuesday afternoon, it was unclear why the outreach team was initially in the area or why they requested police backup.

After police arrived in the area, two officers shot the man, the spokesman said. Police did not specify where exactly the shooting occurred, whether the man was armed and, if so, whether the man set officers on fire. No officers were injured in the shooting.

It’s also unclear if the man shot by police was related to why the mobile crisis outreach team had initially been deployed to the area. Police did not provide further information and did not share further details about what led up to the shooting.

After the shooting, responding officers along with Salt Lake City Fire Department personnel provided first aid to the man before he was taken to a local hospital. the police said he suffered serious injuries. He was not identified as of Tuesday afternoon.

The two Salt Lake City officers who opened fire were placed on administrative leave in accordance with standard procedure, the police spokesman said.

According to the Huntsman Mental Health Institute, when a call comes in to the Utah Hotline, which could result in the deployment of a mobile outreach team, “thorough” risk assessments are conducted over the phone to determine if it would be safe. that a team respond, said Rachel Lucynski, the institute’s director of community crisis services.

“It’s an outlier when police support and backup is requested, but it happens…” Lucynski said. “Generally speaking, our [mobile crisis outreach team] staff will call the police for backup or on-site support if a risk assessment determines there could be a potential threat to the safety of our staff.”

Lucynski did not provide further details about the nature of the call Tuesday that later resulted in a police shooting.

This marked the 16th police shooting in Utah so far this year, according to a database maintained by The Salt Lake Tribune.