West Valley City police and the Salt Lake City Police Department released body camera footage Wednesday that shows officers fatally shooting a man after a standoff in Taylorsville on Dec. 1.
Anei Gabriel Joker, 20, was struck several times during a shootout with police in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven at 4110 S. Redwood Road, just inside Taylorsville city limits. He died in a hospital later that night.
The footage from cameras worn by several officers at the scene begins about two minutes before the shooting, and documents the sequence of events from various vantage points around the parking lot. More than one clip show that Joker’s brother witnessed the shooting. Another captures the moment that a West Valley City detective was shot twice, once in the left shoulder and once in the left leg.
Officers from multiple agencies were at the scene on Dec. 1, including 10 officers from the West Valley police department and several from the Salt Lake police department, according to separate news releases. Two officers from Salt Lake City police opened fire on Joker, one of the releases said, while others from that department were stationed around the perimeter of the parking lot. It’s unclear how many West Valley City officers opened fire on Joker.
According to West Valley City police, officers had been looking for Joker, who is Black, on Dec. 1 in connection with a rape and robbery investigation. They found him in a car at the convenience store with two other adults.
Negotiations before shootout
Officers surrounded the vehicle, which was parked next to the 7-Eleven’s gas pumps, and ordered everyone inside to exit the car, said West Valley City Deputy Chief Mike Fossmo in a video briefing. The two other adults got out, but Joker refused.
The others told officers that a 9-month-old infant was still inside with Joker, Fossmo said. After police negotiated with Joker for about 50 minutes, he agreed to allow two officers with the Unified Police Department to get the baby out of the car. A clip shows the officers retrieving the child through the vehicle’s rear hatch.
Next, an officer continues to negotiate with Joker in an effort to get him to surrender, as heard in footage released by West Valley City police.
“We can ensure your safety at this point,” an officer calls out to Joker loudly. “Joker, this is not going to end, we are not leaving. Come out with your hands empty.”
In the background of the same video, another voice says, “He’s ignoring us. He can hear us,” referring to Joker.
About 30 minutes after the baby was removed from the car, and after about a minute and 40 seconds of negotiations on released footage, an officer deploys pepper bombs into the vehicle in a rapid succession of popping sounds. Moments before, officers in footage captured from behind a police car discuss using the pepper bombs to “see if that will get [Joker] to come out.”
Pepper bombs are hollow projectiles filled with powder, Fossmo said in the briefing. Upon impact, they burst and release “an irritating pepper cloud.”
A few seconds later in the footage, several officers say, “Gun! Gun! Gun!” before Joker opens the passenger’s side door of the car. He can be seen holding a gun in his right hand. Officers yell, “Don’t do it!” then a flurry of gunfire rings out.
West Valley City Police Chief Colleen Jacobs has previously said that Joker came out of the vehicle firing his weapon. Just after the shootout, footage captured from another angle shows Joker lying on the ground next to the car. A K-9 runs up to him, then grabs the back of his shirt with its teeth and pulls him away from the vehicle. Officers yell “Grab his hands!” and, “Roll him!” as several people cough repeatedly due to the pepper bombs.
In addition to the detective who was struck during the shootout, an officer with Unified Police also was struck and injured. He was hospitalized and released, police said.
Brother witnessed shooting
None of the combined footage released by the two police departments show that Joker received medical aid after he was shot. Police noted in separate news releases Wednesday that the footage was clipped and edited for distribution.
Footage released by Salt Lake City Police also captures a scuffle that involved officers and Joker’s brother at the edge of the scene.
Moments before the shooting at the gas pumps, across the parking lot, Joker’s brother is seen walking along the sidewalk. Once officers notice the Black man, they tackle him to the ground, and as gunfire erupts, they pull him into the road and drag him backward along the side of the street. The man screams, “Are you kidding? You killed my brother!” then officers roll him over so he’s facedown on the ground.
An officer then handcuffs the man, keeping his knee in the center of the man’s back. Crying and screaming, Joker’s brother shouts, “Take these handcuffs off me, I didn’t do anything,” and asks officers why he’s in handcuffs. An officer replies, “Listen, it’s because you’re not listening.”
Salt Lake City Police said in its release that officers took the brother behind police cars to prevent him from being struck by bullets, then handcuffed him “for his safety.” He was released from custody, police said.
The fatal Dec. 1 shooting is being investigated by an independent Officer Involved Critical Incident Protocol Team, under the supervision of the Cottonwood Heights Police Department, West Valley City police spokesperson Roxeanne Vainuku said in a video briefing released Wednesday. She said officers are still in the “very early” stages of the investigation.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office will then decide whether the officers’ use of force was justified. The office on Thursday declined to comment on the case, citing the ongoing investigation.
According to law enforcement records, Joker had been shot by police before. In 2017, when Joker was a teenager, he was shot and wounded by a Cottonwood Heights officer after a pursuit that reached speeds of over 100 mph.
This marked the 29th police shooting this year in Utah. The state record is 30 police shootings in a year, reached in both 2020 and 2018.