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South Jordan • The fatal shooting by a South Jordan police officer last month of a man suspected of trespassing at his parents' house has been ruled justified by Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill.

South Jordan police reported the findings Monday night during a news conference at City Hall.

Ty Worthington, 26, of South Jordan, was killed Nov. 22 at a horse corral two properties away from the address of the original trespassing report, made by Worthington's family from their home near 11300 S. Brook-N-Lance Lane.

Worthington, who previously lived there, "had been asked to leave," said Lt. Jason Knight.

One night earlier, medics had been called to the house to help Worthington, who reportedly had overdosed on drugs, Knight said.

When Worthington returned on Nov. 22 — once again high on drugs — his mother called police, according the district attorney's report.

When Sgt. Laramie Lancaster, a 17-year law enforcement officer, responded to the house, he was told by family members that Worthington had just left, and had taken a .22-caliber pistol with him, according to the report.

About 45 minutes later, a neighbor reported seeing Worthington walking back toward the house, Knight said. Lancaster saw Worthington near a horse corral two lots away.

"As Sgt. Lancaster positioned himself around an adjacent home in an effort to intercept Mr. Worthington, the two happened upon each other simultaneously at the horse corral in a face-to-face confrontation," Knight said. Lancaster asked Worthington to come speak with him, but Worthington said no and ran away, Knight said.

As Lancaster followed Worthington, Worthington stopped at the end of the corral and crouched behind a parked boat, where he searched through a backpack he was carrying, Knight said. Lancaster approached the boat and walked around it with his gun drawn to the "low ready" position. Lancaster said he saw Worthington point a handgun at him, Knight said.

Lancaster fired several rounds and paused when Worthington began to "recoil," Knight said. During that pause, Worthington fired his gun; Lancaster fired another series of shots and, after finding Worthington still holding the gun raised toward him, fired a third series of shots, Knight said.

In all, Lancaster fired 13 rounds, striking Worthington three times. All 13 shell casings were found 15 to 21 meters from Worthington's body, Knight said.

Two spent cartridges were found in Worthington's Ruger .22 caliber single-action "cowboy style" revolver, according to Gill's report.

"It was ... reasonable for Sgt. Lancaster to believe that deadly force was necessary to prevent Sgt. Lancaster's death or serious bodily injury as a result of Ty's imminent use of unlawful force," Gill wrote.

Lancaster was testing a body camera when the shooting occurred, but he didn't turn it on, police have said. The department is in the process of testing three different camera models with a goal of outfitting officers within a year, Knight said.

Unlike the two other models, the one worn by Lancaster did not have a feature that continuously records a small segment of footage, usually 30 seconds, capturing the moments before the officer activates the camera for full use — a feature, "which, as a result of this incident, we find fairly important," Knight said.

Because Lancaster was wearing the camera for testing purposes, his failure to turn it on violated no department policy, Knight said.

"The expectation [was] to use the device in the field and work with the functionality of the device," Knight said. "There was no expectation or policy to turn it on."

He said the department will create a policy for camera use once it chooses a model.

"The training of these officers, who have spent years on the road without this technology, ... is going to take some time," Knight said.

Lancaster likely will return to duty from paid leave in the coming days, Knight said.

"The impact to the family of the deceased as well as to the family of the police officer involved was significant."

Twitter: erinalberty