A Salt Lake City mother called the police for help after her 13-year-old autistic son had a mental episode. Police shot him.

• A Salt Lake City police officer on Friday night shot a 13-year-old autistic boy, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
• The boy's mother told KUTV that she called asking for a crisis-intervention team for her son, who she said was having a mental breakdown.
• The boy is in serious condition.

A Salt Lake City police officer shot a 13-year-old autistic boy on Friday night after responding to a call that the boy was having a "psychological episode," The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

The boy, Linden Cameron, was identified to local outlets by his mother, Golda Barton, who told the Salt Lake City-based KUTV that she called the police requesting a crisis-intervention team.

Barton recalled telling the team that her son was having a mental breakdown and needed hospital treatment.

"This is how to deal with people with mental-health issues," Barton told KUTV. "So, you call them, and they're supposed to come out and be able to deescalate a situation using the most minimal force possible."

The Salt Lake City Police Department said an officer shot the boy after the boy ran away from officers.

"During a short foot pursuit, an officer discharged his firearm and hit the subject," Sgt. Keith Horrocks said during a press conference.

According to KUTV, Horrocks said the boy had "made threats to some folks with a weapon," but Barton said he was unarmed.

"I said, 'Look, he's unarmed, he doesn't have anything,'" she told KUTV. "He just gets mad and he starts yelling and screaming. He's a kid. He's trying to get attention. He doesn't know how to regulate."

The Tribune reported that no weapon was found at the scene Friday and that the boy was taken to a hospital and was in serious condition.

Mayor Erin Mendenhall promised a "swift and transparent inquiry" into the shooting, according to The Tribune.

"While the full details of this incident are yet to be released as an investigation takes place, I will say that I am thankful this young boy is alive and no one else was injured," Mendenhall said in her statement. "No matter the circumstances, what happened on Friday night is a tragedy, and I expect this investigation to be handled swiftly and transparently for the sake of everyone involved."

The New York Times reported that the police were expected to release body-camera footage of the incident by September 21.

"I know that these things are very difficult for the community as a whole, and there is a process in terms of looking at what happened and investigating it," Detective Greg Wilking, a spokesman for the police department, told The Times.

Wilking did not identify the officer who shot the boy.

The Tribune reported that police officers in Utah had shot 18 people this year, 11 of whom died. Last year, it said, the police shot 15 people, and 12 were killed.

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