Two Taylorsville police officers will not face criminal charges after they shot and wounded a suicidal veteran experiencing a mental health crisis at his friend’s home last year, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill announced Friday.
The veteran, 35-year-old Alex Boren, had already injured himself before officers arrived at the home around 11 p.m. on March 17, 2023, and began following a blood trail upstairs. Boren’s friend had called police for help, reporting that Boren was suicidal, had hurt himself and had a “large knife,” according to a document explaining Gill’s findings released Friday.
“It was clear to us that he was in a state of psychosis,” Gill said of Boren on Friday, citing his office’s investigation. “This is a very dynamic, volatile situation that happened.”
The blood trail led the six responding officers to an upstairs closet, where they found Boren lying under a blanket, body camera footage of the situation released Friday shows. Upon arrival, three officers had weapons pointed at Boren, and two were armed with riot shields.
Boren was breathing but not moving, the footage shows. An officer can be seen using a broom to shift the blanket off the man after he did not respond to officers’ commands. That move uncovered a knife with a 10-inch blade on the floor near the closet’s entrance, the document states.
It’s unclear why a crisis-intervention team did not respond to the call. Such teams are made up of mental health providers and are typically on call to respond to people experiencing mental health crises, with law enforcement assisting in the response.
Gill said Friday that Salt Lake County has crisis-intervention teams available, but “when you have something who may be acting violently ... and somebody who may have a weapon” it “raises the threat level, so you have to approach it the best way that you can — but within the context of that situation.”
Taylorsville Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday about the shooting or prosecutors’ findings.
‘Don’t shoot me’
Boren, who survived the shooting, later told investigators that he thought an attacker had pulled a gun on him while at his friend’s house. Getting under a blanket in the upstairs closet was his attempt to take refuge, he said, adding that he couldn’t remember all of the details of the situation, the document states. He denied taking any weapons with him.
“That was important, because it allowed us to understand what was going on with Mr. Boren in the moment of his psychotic break,” Gill said Friday.
Once the knife was uncovered, an officer can next be seen trying to shuffle the blade away with the broom, the video shows. That’s when Boren quickly sat up and rushed toward the officers while grabbing the knife, according to the document.
Within seconds, three officers fired their weapons — one firing a Taser, one firing 40mm less-than-lethal rounds and one firing his pistol three times, the video shows.
It’s unclear which if any of the weapons immediately struck Boren, but the man fell back into the closet while still holding the knife, according to the document.
Once down, officers yelled for Boren to drop the knife, but he “continued to wave the knife in his hand and move around,” the document states.
Another officer then shot two more pistol rounds at Boren when he sat up and moved toward police with the knife in his hand, the document states.
About 30 seconds later, as officers again yelled for Boren to drop the blade, the man threw the knife from the closet.
“Don’t shoot me,” he told officers, the document states.
As he lay on his side in the closet, blood can be seen as officers discuss whether or not to use a Taser on Boren again, the video shows. The move would allow them to turn Boren over and make sure he had no other weapons in his waistband, they say, before deciding to do it.
As the officers fire a Taser on Boren a second time, the man can be heard groaning in pain in the video. Police then fired a Taser on Boren’s leg as they worked to turn him on his back, the video shows. He was handcuffed and taken him into custody at about 12:13 a.m.
Use of force was justified, D.A. finds
Once arrested, Boren was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for multiple gunshot wounds and self-inflicted injuries, according to the document. The severity of his condition was not specified.
At the hospital, a bullet fragment was recovered from Boren’s left hand and a Taser component was found in Boren’s clothing. Evidence showed that a total of five gunshots were likely fired by two officers, along with two Taser deployments and one shot from a 40mm less-than-lethal weapon, the document states.
Gill determined that the two Taylorsville officers who used deadly force were justified, which is why prosecutors declined to file criminal charges against them, the document states.
In December, Boren entered a plea-in-abeyance to one count of criminal mischief, a second-degree felony, in Veterans Court. The Veterans Court Program connects “justice-involved veterans” with services designed to “address the root causes of criminal conduct,” according to the Utah District Court website.
“The continuing challenge for our veterans who continue to suffer from stress and [post-traumatic stress disorder], and just the ongoing mental health challenges they continue to face ... I’m just happy to say that, that that [now], Alex is doing well,” Gill said Friday. “He’s getting the help and support that he needs.”
Editor’s note • If you or people you know are at risk of self-harm, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for 24-hour support.
The Veterans Crisis Line can also connect any veteran or their loved ones 24/7 with a person specially trained to support veterans. It is free and confidential. Call 988, and press 1; text 838255; or chat online. Veterans with a hearing impairment may call 800-799-4889.
Veterans experiencing crisis may also go to any VA or non-VA health care facility for emergent suicidal care at no cost under the Comprehensive Prevention, Access to Care, and Treatment (COMPACT) Act, which went into effect last year.
