SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Utah chapter of the NAACP is holding a news conference Monday morning with the family of a young man who was wielding a samurai sword when he was fatally shot by Saratoga Springs police in September.
Prosecutors in Utah County ruled last week that the two officers involved were justified in shooting 22-year-old Darrien Hunt, who was carrying the sword as part of a Japanese anime costume. Hunt’s family disagrees that the shooting is justified, and have said he was treated differently because of his race. Hunt was black; the officers who shot him were white.
Family attorney Bob Sykes said last Monday that the family plans to file a civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit. No lawsuit has been filed as of Monday morning.
Police encountered Hunt Sept. 10 after receiving reports of a suspicious person walking with a sword at a shopping center in Saratoga Springs, a city of about 23,000 that sits south of Salt Lake City.
When Police Cpl. Matthew Schauerhamer and Officer Nicholas Judson spotted Hunt, they spoke with him and asked him to give up his sword, Utah County Attorney Jeff Buhman said last week.
Hunt refused, his demeanor changed, and he swung the 3-foot metal sword toward the officers, according to Buhman.
The officers shot at Hunt, who fled despite being hit by gunfire. He continued to disobey police commands to drop the sword, Buhman said, and was seconds away from being able to reach someone else. The officers fired again, and Hunt fell to the sidewalk. He died before medical responders arrived.
Buhman said investigators found no evidence that race or ethnicity played a role in the shooting.
Sykes has disputed that account, saying it’s unlikely that Hunt was aggressive and criticizing the investigation.
Hunt was shot six times, including several times in the back, according to an autopsy.
A search warrant released in late October showed Hunt’s brother told investigators that Hunt had been making and using a hallucinogenic drug. He had recently been fired from his job after failing to show up, and mother had told him he needed to get a job or leave the house by the end of the week, according to the warrant.
He had no drugs in his system at the time of his death.
Investigators wrote that a friend reported Hunt had posted a message on Facebook the morning of his death that said, “I have a sword and I’m going to get shot.”
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