A 13-year-old boy with autism was shot by police
A mother asks why? Why did Salt Lake police shoot her 13-year-old son who she says is autistic and was not armed. This mother says all she wanted was help from the police.
UPDATE 24/9/2020: Recently released body camera footage shows the moment Salt Lake City police officers fired nearly a dozen shots at a 13-year-old boy with autism, leaving him severely injured.
Thirteen-year-old Linden Cameron is at primary children. His mother says he has an extensive list of injuries. She says he was shot in his stomach, arm, Bladder, ankle, shoulder, leg intestines, colon, and his growth plate were shattered, and he is lost feeling in some parts of his body. All these injuries, she says should never have happened.
Friday night in Glendale, Golda Barton called the police to help her with her son. Barton says her thirteen-year-old son Linden was running from police because he was scared and he didn’t want to be taken to the hospital. Linden has autism and Asperger’s and was extremely upset. Barton called the police and asked for a crisis intervention team that knows how to deal with people with mental health issues.
Barton says “You call them and they are supposed to come out and be able to deescalate a situation using the most minimal force possible. why did not they taser him? why didn’t they shot him with rubber bullets? he’s a small child. Why don’t you just tackle him? you are big police officers with massive amounts of resources“
When police arrived, her son ran away, and one of the Salt Lake city police officer fired their weapon.
Police said that they were responding to juvenile psych episode and had reports that Lyndon had made threats with a weapon. but they have not yet said if a weapon was recovered at the scene. Barton says he did not have. Linden is now awake, but his recovery will be an extremely long line. Barton says she takes solace in the support from her community and needs answers from police.
Barton says, she is now gotten into an attorney and she’s hopeful that she can create change for the future. Reporters have reached out to Salt Lake City police for more details and to comment on the situation, but they haven’t yet received any further updates.
Mayor Mendenhall released a statement saying, “while the full details of this incident are yet to be released as the investigation takes place, I will say that I am thankful this young boy is alive and no one else was injured”.
No matter the circumstances, what happened on Friday night is a tragedy and we expect this investigation to be handled swiftly and transparently for the sake of everyone involved.
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