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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
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