SLCPD officers not charged in fatal shooting at South State St. gas station

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office has declined to file charges against the officers involved in the April 2024 fatal police shooting of Cameron Ammon Cloward, 36, at a Salt Lake City gas station.

Shortly after 2:20 a.m. on April 2, a Chevron employee called 911 reporting that a man had tried to stab him with a knife. Salt Lake City police officers responded to the gas station, located at 875 South State St.

At about 2:26 a.m., the first officer arrived on scene and Cloward began challenging him with a knife. The officer ordered Cloward to drop the weapon as additional officers arrived on scene, but Cloward would not comply.

Watch bodycam footage of the incident below:

After leaving the gas station property, Cloward reportedly turned around to face the officers and began moving toward them while holding the knife “high on the center of his chest with both hands around the grip and the blade pointed out,” a summary of findings in the investigation states.

Cloward refused to comply as officers gave more commands to stop, saying “No” and “I don’t care” multiple times, according to the findings. Cloward then changed direction before heading directly toward the officers.

At this point, four officers fired their handguns and Cloward immediately fell to the ground. He was declared deceased shortly after.

Through investigation of witnesses, physical evidence, dispatch radio recordings, body-worn camera footage, security camera footage, and autopsy findings, in combination with the facts of the incident, the DA’s Office has declined to file charges in the shooting.

In their official findings, the DA’s office said:

We conclude that the facts in this case, together with the reasonable inferences about the Involved Officers’ decisions to use deadly force, would like to support a finding that they believed deadly force was necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to themselves and/or others. As such, we believe that a jury would likely find that the facts and reasonable inferences satisfy the elements of the affirmative legal defense of justification and therefore afford them a legal defense to a criminal charge. Accordingly, we decline to file a criminal charge in this matter.

No further information is available at this time.