SALT LAKE CITY — A suspect who allegedly drew a knife on UTA police officers late Thursday in Salt Lake City is in critical condition after a UTA officer shot him, officials report.
Two UTA officers approached a person in the area of 900 South 200 West who said they had been robbed just before 9 p.m. The victim was able to point towards where the suspect had left after the robbery.
When officers located the 50-year-old suspect, the person allegedly pulled a knife, leading to one of the officers firing their weapon.
After being shot, the suspect was transported to the hospital and is currently in critical condition.
UTA spokesperson Carl Arky explained these types of incidents don't happen often involving UTA officers.
"I’ve been with UTA for five years," Arky said. "This is the first officer-involved shooting that I’ve been out to cover and been involved with so it’s very rare and usually doesn’t happen."
Arky also said he believes the intention of the officers was to resolve the issue peacefully,
"Any law enforcement agency will tell you they try to resolve things as peacefully as they possibly can and I’m sure that was what the intent of these two officers was tonight when they came down here to try to respond to what the original person told them about a robbery," he said.
Police shut down roads in the area as they investigated the shooting. UTA said West Valley City Police will investigate the shooting further.
Both of the officers involved in the incident have been placed on paid administrative leave, Arky said.
TRAX and buses did not experience an interruption of service due to the incident because the shooting happened off the platform, Arky explained.
"Trax is still running, the buses are still running," Arky said. "We haven’t had an interruption of service. This happened off the platform away from the platform so service has continued. In fact, as I have been watching the trains go by it's been pretty busy tonight. A lot of people onboard so fortunately service wasn’t disrupted."
