2025 has already had more Utah police shootings to date than any year in the past 10

SALT LAKE CITY — Data from local police agencies and KSL’s own reporting shows Utah police have been involved in at least 11 shootings year-to-date in 2025. At least eight of those shootings resulted in someone’s death. 

By May 13 of 2024, there had been roughly half that number of Utah police shootings, with at least six identified in our count. 

Police shooting trends 

KSL looked through our own coverage, then compared that against news releases to verify our numbers, then checked our data against multiple national websites that track police shootings. They included Mapping Police Violence, The Trace, and the FBI’s crime data explorer, which includes use-of-force data from police departments that provide the information.  

Because no one agency completely tracks police shootings across the board, reporters must cobble together the numbers themselves from multiple sources. Readers should note that as a result, the data we report here may be an undercount. 

There was no year between 2015 and 2024 in which Utah recorded more than seven people killed in police use of force. In 2025, between 11 shootings, eight people have been killed by law enforcement in Utah. 

Utah is not alone in increasing officer-involved shootings

According to retired Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank, Utah does not hold a monopoly on the increase. 

“There hasn’t been a single day in the United States [in 2025], where the police have not killed somebody,” Burbank said. 

Burbank said whether you think police are more violent or average citizens are, the truth is that society has a problem — and we need to be looking for solutions together.   

“There’s a lack of patience with each other that is scary,” Burbank said, using cases of road rage as an example of how people have become more angry and reactive. “This represents a failure. How do we get to the point where we have nobody killed, and nobody killed by law enforcement?”  

Related reading:

• Man killed by police during Orem search was not subject of warrant, investigators say
• Man shot by officer after lunging at him with knife in Ogden, police say
• 2 National Park Service rangers involved in shooting at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
• Man killed in ‘officer-involved’ incident after multi-county police pursuit
• Suspected robber fatally shot, officer injured in Ogden police shooting

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