An officer shot and killed a man Friday night inside the West Valley City Hall in the DUI processing area.
The man, who police identified as Chad Michael Breinholt, 31, was arrested Friday after police got a call that he was intoxicated and causing problems at a business near 2900 South Redwood Road. When police found Breinholt, officers determined he was impaired and had driven to the business, according to a news release from West Valley City police.
Court records indicate the man also goes by Michael Chad Breinholt.
Breinholt was taken into custody around 7:40 p.m. on suspicion of driving under the influence, and taken to the police department’s DUI processing room in the basement of West Valley City Hall, near 3600 Constitution Blvd., the release states.
Police said some kind of altercation occurred in the room and an officer shot Breinholt, killing him.
Police spokesperson Roxeanne Vainuku said just after midnight Saturday at a news conference broadcast live by a KUTV photographer that the processing area is in city hall’s basement and is “very small.” It holds a breath alcohol testing machine and two chairs — one for an officer and one for a suspect.
Vainuku told reporters she didn’t know if the man police killed had been searched before entering the room, nor whether he was handcuffed.
The department, in another tweet, described the shooting officer as a “veteran,” but have not released any other identifying information.
Multiple officers with body cameras were around for the shooting, and the department tweeted that video of the confrontation exists.
The officer has been placed on paid administrative leave as Salt Lake City police investigate.
Authorities first posted on the West Valley City Police Department Twitter account that an incident occurred in the police department building, then sent another tweet correcting the location.
The buildings are located across from each other, near 2700 West and Lehman Avenue (3590 South).
Breinholt is at least the eighth person shot by police this year in Utah, and the sixth person to be killed, according to a Salt Lake Tribune database of police shootings. Last year, police in Utah fatally shot 19 people and injured 25.
He is the third person to be killed by Utah police this month. Jovany Mercado-Bedolla, 26, was killed by Ogden police while wielding a knife outside a house party on Aug. 16, and Riche Santiago, 29, was killed by Salt Lake City police after pointing a gun at them on Aug. 5.
