SANDY, Utah, Oct. 4, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — After conducting an Officer Involved Critical Incident (OICI) review, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office on Friday declined to file criminal charges for the Dec. 1, 2023 use of deadly force by a Sandy City Police Officer and a Deputy U.S. Marshall on assignment with the U.S. Marshals Service’s Violent Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team.
On that day, officers were dispatched to the Silver Pines Senior Community apartments, at 735 E. 11000 South on a report of a male trespassing.
Sandy City Police officers tried to make contact with the male, identified as Anzer, who was in his mother’s apartment, says a news release from the Salt Lake County Attorney’s Office. Anzer refused to come out, the statement says.
The U.S. Marshals Violent Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team (VFAST) was called in, and also asked Anzer to come out, but he did not comply.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, operating pursuant to an agreement with participating law enforcement agencies and consistent with established protocols and applicable laws, conducts independent reviews of officer involved critical incidents, including police officers’ use of deadly force used in the scope of police officers’ official duties.
Armed VFAST officers forced entry and began to force entry, the statement says. Officers began ordering Anzer to drop the knife, which “he held in a position to ambush (them) as they) came around the corner,” the statement says. He did not comply.
Officers fired at Anzer, and he “fell to the ground and was subsequently pronounced deceased on scene.”
The written conclusion by the Salt Lake County Attorney’s Office says witness interviews, body camera footage and one officer’s interview led Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill to the conclusion that the use of deadly force to prevent the injury or death of the officers was justified.
