Angry crowds gathered following the shooting, chanting, “They shot an innocent kid.”
Protests erupted in Salt Lake City, Utah, after a 17-year-old Kenyan-American said to be wielding a broomstick was shot and injured by police on Saturday.
UAPB / Via Facebook: utahagainstpolicybrutality
Police were responding to a fight that had broken out between Mohamed and another man in the Rio Grande district of the Utah capital, witnesses told Fox13, when they reportedly shot Mohamed multiple times.
Mohamed's family released his name on Sunday morning and said the teenager was now in a coma in a local hospital.
Selam Mohammed, who was with Mohamed at the time of the shooting, told Fox13, the 17-year-old picked up a broken broomstick off the ground just before the police arrived.
"The police said, 'Drop it', once, then they shot him four times," Selam Mohammed said.
Mohammed said he and friends were trying to break up a fight before the police arrived.
"But the police ran in on foot and pulled their guns out already," Mohammed said. "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."
Police confirmed that two officers were involved in "an altercation," but would not comment further. Salt Lake City Police did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News' request for comment.
Angry protests quickly erupted in response to the shooting, with nearly 100 police officers on the scene, some in riot gear.
According to reporters on the scene, groups congregated in the street hurling objects at police officers and chanting, "They shot an innocent kid."
Officers could be heard on the online archive service Broadcastify, which broadcasts police and EMS radio activity, calling for "a bunch of units" to rush "quickly" to the scene of the protests for backup.
An officer could be heard warning others that "they are throwing bigger rocks." He later requested more units and said, "There is glass and other items being thrown."
In a statement released on Sunday regarding the shooting, Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupsk said, "The use of force by law enforcement against the public can tear at the delicate balance of trust between both sides, and must be taken extremely seriously."
She said the shooting and ensuing protests "create a number of unanswered questions in the short term," but added that she had "complete confidence" in the Unified Police Department to lead the investigation and make an "ultimate decision" regarding the incident.
According to Biskupsk, this was the third "significant use of force incident" in the Salt Lake City police department in the past month. The mayor said it was an issue she and the police chief were reviewing and discussing.
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