Outrage In Salt Lake As Police Shoot 16-Year Old Holding Just A Broomstick In The Chest & Stomach

A police officer has shot a 16-year-old boy who refused to
drop the broomstick he was holding in Salt Lake City last night when he was
asked to.

The officer was responding to an unrelated call in the Utah
capital at 8.15pm when his team spotted two teenagers arguing with a man.

Surrounding them, police allegedly told the boy to drop what
he was holding – part of a broomstick. When he did not, ‘shots were fired’. The
boy was hit in the chest and the stomach.

The shooting however sparked fierce protests that ripped
through the city same night. Around 100 officers were dispatched to contain the
uproar as crowds shouted and threw objects at police.

Sadly, the boy’s friend, Selam Mohammed, who was stood next
to him at the time, said the officers only gave the boy one chance to drop the
broomstick in his hand.

‘The police said “drop it” once, then they shot
him four times,’ Mohammed told Fox News.

‘We were trying to break it up before the police even came,
but the police ran in on foot and pulled their guns out already, they already
had them, like, as soon as he was running he was already grabbing for his gun,
not even trying to Tase him or anything…

‘He said “drop it” [then] boom boom! Four times’,
he said.

Once shots were fired, hundreds of people flooded the
streets screaming at officers and throwing rocks, bottles and other debris at
officers, Fox reports.

Utah’s transit authority shut down tram services in the area
until 11pm as multiple law enforcement agencies combined to tackle the uproar.

Fans at the Utah Jazz game at Vivint Smart Home Arena were also
advised mid-game to avoid the area on leaving.