SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4 News) – The family of a man shot and killed by Utah police officer is speaking out after the district attorney ruled the shooting justified.
Bernardo Palacio-Carbajal was shot and killed by Salt Lake City police officers responding to a gun call in the early morning hours of May 23. Body camera footage showed officers fired at him 20 times as he was running away.
Bernardo’s mother, noticeably consumed in pain with tears streaming down her face, cried out for her son during the press conference.
“I don’t see him come home anymore. I don’t have a life anymore. I can’t breathe. You can’t even imagine what it’s like if they killed your son like they killed mine,” Luci Carbajal told Salt Lake City media.
The Carbajal family held out hope that the Salt Lake County District Attorney would file charges in the fatal police shooting of their loved one, and called Sim Gill’s decision, unacceptable.
“I felt angry, sad, disgusted, that my brother is gone and they think it’s OK. The way they killed him is not right,” Karina Carbajal, Bernardo’s sister, said.
Attorneys for the Carbajal family plan to file a civil lawsuit.
“He (Bernardo) was failed, obviously by the police who chose to kill him, he was failed by the District Attorneys Office, who this morning failed to prosecute in a circumstance we believe justified prosecution,” said Brian Webber, Attorney with the Law Offices of Brian C. Webber.
No matter what, they family says they will not stop until they receive justice for Bernardo.
“And I think everyone who’s been supportive. We’re going to keep fighting and we’re going to ask for justice for my son, and many other people who were killed like my son, so this doesn’t happen again,” Luci said, while holding her fist high in the air.
You can watch the entire press conference via the video below.
