The roughly seven-minute videos show police interviewing the man before he takes off running with a rock in hand.
(Salt Lake City Police Department) A screenshot of body camera footage from the deadly Oct. 29 police shooting at 300 West and 2100 South.
What started as a 911 call from a man trying to help his friend ended with a Salt Lake City police officer fatally shooting 47-year-old Jose Hernandez, according to a recording of the phone call and two body camera videos released Monday.
On the morning of Oct. 29, an emergency dispatcher received a call from a man reporting that his friend “just [got] attacked in the middle of the street.”
After trying to nail down where exactly help was needed, the dispatcher asked the caller where the assailant was. The caller did not respond. When the dispatcher called back, the caller only said, “send somebody.”
One of the officers who responded to the scene at the Chevron gas station at 278 W. 2100 South told another officer that as he arrived, he saw Hernandez with his hand up to two other men in the parking lot “like he’s looking to fight them,” body camera footage shows. After splitting up the group, the two responding officers talked to the two men and other bystanders, who indicated they had seen Hernandez collapse and had tried to get him medical attention.
It was unclear from the footage whether Hernandez had been involved in a fight before police arrived. In a news release, the department said witnesses indicated “some sort of altercation had occurred.”
Officers struggled to get a clear story from Hernandez about what happened. In the footage, one officer notes that Hernandez is bleeding from one of his hands. Police also asked him multiple times if he needed medical attention, though he declined.
Hernandez, while sitting on a curb in the parking lot, told the officers that the two men “wanted to beat [him] up.” After that, though, he stopped answering officers’ questions. One officer said Hernandez had exhibited similar behavior before, getting into fights nearby and then refusing to talk about them with police.
“If you don’t want to tell us,” the officer said, “we’ll just leave and walk away.”
At that point, the other officer stays with Hernandez and the first officer goes to talk with the two men Hernandez said wanted to beat him up. That’s when Hernandez starts picking up landscaping rocks and putting them in his sweatshirt pocket. When the officer tells him to put them back, Hernandez stands up and steps away.
Hernandez then refuses to comply with orders to sit back down and holds a rock in his right hand.
As the officer who left to speak with the other two men returns, the officer who stayed with Hernandez said, “He’s got a rock in his hand like a weapon.” Both officers then draw their guns.
In the footage, Hernandez starts walking away from the officers, ignoring commands to drop the rock. After one officer swaps his firearm for a stun gun, Hernandez motions like he is going to throw the rock and then starts to run.
Hernandez runs across 300 West to the northwest corner of the intersection at 2100 South where he stops, turns and throws the rock at the closest pursuing officer. That officer fired at Hernandez, who fell to the ground and groaned. The videos then stop.
Hernandez later died at a hospital. The officer who fired his gun was injured and treated at a hospital, police said.
The West Jordan Police Department is reviewing the shooting. It is standard practice when Salt Lake City police use deadly force for an outside agency to investigate.