Officers in Syracuse, Utah, shot more than 30 rounds and had their guns aimed at a reportedly suicidal woman over the course of nearly an hour on May 2, body camera footage released to The Salt Lake Tribune shows.
An infant was also in the area of the police shooting, and police did not remove the child from the vicinity until dozens of rounds had already been fired, the footage shows.
Stacy Ann Westfahl, 52, was wounded but survived the police shooting. Officers moved in on her to provide medical attention about 50 minutes after the first shots rang out. She was inside a truck, and at least one officer had reported seeing blood in her vehicle as early as seven minutes after the shooting began.
Two minutes before police converged on her, an officer can be heard in the footage asking, “What is taking so long? Let’s go.”
Initial call to police
Syracuse police first responded May 2 after a man reported just before 10 p.m. that his estranged mother was sending “threatening text messages” and making “suicidal and homicidal comments.”
When police arrived, the man told them that his mother, Westfahl, had attempted suicide previously. About 10 minutes into their conversation, Westfahl appears to drive by in a truck, and an officer ran to his patrol car to follow the vehicle, the body camera footage shows. A few minutes later, both cars stopped.
At about 10:09 p.m., the officer then grabs a firearm and yells “show me your hands” from behind his open driver’s side door.
“Put the gun down,” the officer yells. “We don’t want to end it this way.”
The officer continues to yell at Westfahl to put the gun down and reports that she is pointing it at herself. The woman can partially be seen in the footage but is mostly obstructed by her truck.
She then moves to the back seat on the driver’s side of the truck, the officer says, and he calls out to her repeatedly, saying, “Mrs. Westfahl, it doesn’t have to end this way.”
The woman responds with something unintelligible in the footage.
“She just said to shoot her or she’s gonna shoot us,” the officer says.
The police shooting
About five minutes after police began issuing Westfahl commands, an officer says there is a baby in a car parked in front of her truck. Around 25 seconds later, at about 10:14 p.m., over 10 shots ring out, and the officer yells for authorities to cease their fire.
It is unclear how many rounds police fired in total, or if Westfahl ever fired at officers. Syracuse police initially reported that the woman had fired her gun at officers, but the department later reported that “some details were misrepresented as fact ... primarily that the woman fired at the officers.”
Police said in a May news release that Westfahl “moved the weapon in an aggressive manner and pointed it at the officers,” which prompted their initial gunfire.
After the first shots, officers moved closer to the truck and again ordered Westfahl to show her hands, the footage shows. A few call out that Westfahl is still moving, and two more shots ring out.
“She’s pointing the gun toward us,” an officer says in the footage.
Police continue to issue Westfahl commands, and fire 10 more shots, the footage shows.
“She’s still moving,” an officer yells at 10:16 p.m, noting that Westfahl is in the backseat of the truck. Officers yell for her again to drop the weapon, and Westfahl replies “F--- you.”
The officers then moved behind a patrol car to regroup, and one officer calls for the others to shoot a beanbag round at one of Westfahl’s truck windows. Nine more police gunshots ring out after they fire the beanbag.
“She may be down, I’m not seeing movement,” an officer says, noting a dog inside the vehicle was trying to escape. Another officer fires a beanbag round at the truck’s back window.
“Dog’s got some blood on his shoulder, I’m not seeing any movement,” an officer says in the footage.
“Show me your hands so we can get you help,” another officer calls out to Westfahl at 10:21 p.m. By then, at least 30 gunshots had been recorded in the footage.
Police next grabbed the infant out of the car in front of Westfahl’s truck. Officials did not report if the baby was injured, but the footage shows that the child was taken to their family’s nearby home.
Officers then refocused on Westfahl. At about 10:29 p.m., one officer repeatedly yelled for Westfahl to show them her empty hands so they can get her help, since she’d “probably been shot.”
‘Her hands are clear, let’s go’
Police continue to order Westfahl to show them that she was unarmed for the next 30 minutes. At 10:59, it seems that responders confirmed Westfahl is no longer holding a gun.
“What is taking so long? Let’s go,” one officer said at about 11:02 p.m., noting that they hadn’t seen the woman’s foot move or heard her moaning in a while. “No movement, no weapons, her hands are clear, let’s go.”
Footage indicates officers ultimately approach Westfahl to provide medical attention at about 11:04 p.m. Police did not release further information on Westfahl’s injuries, but said she was struck by “some of the rounds” fired.
Westfahl was booked into the Davis County Jail on May 17.
She has not been charged in connection with the police shooting. Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings said investigators are still waiting on forensic evidence to determine if she or any of the officers involved will face charges.
During the initial investigation, police found a notebook in Westfahl’s truck with several individuals’ social security numbers, bank accounts and birth dates, a court document states. She was charged with one count of mail theft, four counts of forgery and one count of unlawful possession of another’s identity documents on May 22.