Nathan S. Morris is honored to represent the family of Bernardo Palacios Carbajal, who died in a tragic shooting incident on May 23, 2020. The shooting has garnered state and national attention, especially following Salt Lake District Attorney Sim Gill’s ruling yesterday that the shooting was justified and reasonable, despite concluding that 34 shots were fired.
In a press conference held yesterday by the family, Morris read a statement for the family calling the shooting unreasonable and excessive: “The officers had many opportunities to use less-than-deadly force but chose not to. Even after shooting Bernardo 4-6 times from approximately 15 feet away before he fell, the two officers then completely emptied their clips which contained 17 rounds each for a total of 34 bullets. That is approximately 25-30 bullets after he was on the ground.” “Our disappointment is that history had its eye on Mr. Gill,” Morris said, “and he did not step up and do his duty under the law. He took the easy road.”
The Palacios Carbajal family asked for peaceful protesting to continue and urged leaders in the Salt Lake City Police Department to continue their internal investigation of the officers and to change policies and trainings. The family also asked the legislature to take the promised “collective, concrete steps to prevent future replays of this all-too-familiar pattern.”