Salt Lake City Teen Remains In Critical Condition After Being Shot By Two Police Officers

17-year-old Abdi Mohamed is in a coma and fighting for his life after being shot by Salt Lake City police on Saturday. 

According to reports, Mohamed, a native of Kenya who had just moved to Utah 10 years ago, lived with his girlfriend and son.

On Saturday, around 8pm, cops intervened in a fight between three males near a downtown homeless shelter. Upon arrival the cops allegedly found Mohamed and another male hitting a male victim with what cops say were metal objects, but turns out to have been a broom stick. “Officers confronted the two suspects and ordered them to drop the weapons,” cops said in a statement. “One of the males complied and dropped the weapon, the other continued to advance on the victim and was shot by officers.”

The teen was shot three times after witnesses say, he was given only one chance to drop his “weapon.”

The police said, ‘drop it’, once, then they shot him,” Selam Mohammed, a friend of Abdi Mohamed told Fox 13. “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 him – like, as soon as [the policeman] was running he was already grabbing for his gun, not even trying to Tase him or anything.”

According to the cops’ statement, the two police officers involved in the shooting were both wearing body cameras and the footage from the incident has been turned over to a team led by the Unified Police Department who will be handling the investigation per Salt Lake County’s Officer-Involved Critical Incident Protocol.  “We are committed, to ensuring the Salt Lake City Police Department does business appropriately, in line with the community’s trust and expectations,” said Chief Mike Brown.  “Our goal is to always de-escalate any type of volatile situation using the minimal amount of force necessary.”

The cops are currently on leave pending results of the investigation.

Following the shooting, the crowd of witnesses grew, expressing their anger. Several were arrested for  “crimes relating to civil disorder” after throwing objects at police officers. 

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