The official state autopsy of 22-year-old Darrien Hunt confirms that he died as a result of being shot several times in the back by Utah police. The news released Tuesday indicated that there were no drugs in Hunt’s system, but he had six gun shot wounds and at least four bullets had entered his body from behind. These findings generally confirm the results of the independent autopsy released by his family.
According to a narrative in the autopsy, an officer fired three shots when Hunt charged at him. Hunt swung the sword at the officer as he exited his car. Hunt ran away and the police proceeded to release four more shots and chase him, according to the narrative. However, Robert Sykes, an attorney for the family says a photograph taken by a bystander shows Hunt smiling as he talked to two officers.
According to the chief deputy of the Utah County Attorney’s Office, Tim Taylor, “the trajectory of the shots found by the autopsy indicates Hunt was turning away when they were fired, but investigators are still looking at exactly what happened during the encounter.”
The victim was shot on the 10th of September while dressed as a Japanese anime character and carrying a sword at a strip mall in Saratoga Springs. It was believed that onlookers became afraid of his intentions with the metal sword and called local authorities.
Hunts family believes their he was treated differently because he is Black and as a result, police used excessive force.