Bodycam video shows Salt Lake police shoot armed man who broke into ex-wife’s home

SALT LAKE CITY — A dynamic and dangerous domestic violence call in May resulted in police officers shooting and killing a man who had broken into his ex-wife’s home and threatened to harm her and her teenage children.

On Friday, Salt Lake police released body camera videos from the officers who responded to the call.

Related: Friends, family identify suspect in deadly police shooting in Salt Lake City

Christian Thomas Allen, 60, was killed by police on May 27, inside a home at 2963 S. Judith Street. Allen’s ex-wife, who had a protective order against him, called 911 about 12:15 a.m. after locking herself in a bedroom with her two children, ages 15 and 17.

“My husband is breaking into my house,” she tells the emergency dispatcher in a recording of the call. “He has threatened to kill me.”

While at first she is unsure if he has made it inside the home, the ex-wife begins speaking to the dispatcher in whispers when she realizes, “He’s in the house.”

In the background, Allen can be heard yelling statements such as, “This is what you get” and “Why did you do this to me?” At one point, the ex-wife tells the dispatcher that he has gasoline in the house and that Allen claimed he was going to light himself on fire and burn the house down.

“I went down to Chevron and poured gasoline all over myself. I got gasoline all over me and I’m going to light myself on fire and burn the house (inaudible). This is your … fault,” he is heard yelling.

‘Please hurry,” the woman whispers twice to the 911 operator, sounding increasingly worried.

The first arriving officer reports that he can see Allen through the living room window. As additional officers arrive, a plan is made to cover all doors. Two officers go to the front door and another two go to the backyard, all with their guns drawn.

The officers who go to the back find a broken basement window, through which Allen is believed to have entered the house. An officer in front first tries knocking on the door, but gets no response, as shown in the video.

When another officer stationed on the side of the house hears Allen yelling, “Shoot me,” officers at both the front and back doors kick in the locked doors almost simultaneously and enter.

“There’s active,” one officer says.

“Do it, kick the door,” another tells him.

As soon as officers enter, they find Allen holding a large knife. Officers give him several commands with their guns drawn to drop the knife. Instead, Allen can be seen putting his head down and walking toward the officers, who then fire more than a half-dozen rounds. Allen is seen in body camera videos falling to the ground while still holding the knife.

The 911 call records the gunshots followed by the sound of crying in the bedroom. Moments later, officers going through each room of the house knock on the bedroom door and tell them to open it.

“Come with me, come with me. Hey, we’re extracting people out. Come this way,” an officer is heard saying as he escorts the woman and children out of the home. “Get out this way. Go go go.”

“This appears to have been a fast-moving, unpredictable, and dangerous situation,” Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd said in a prepared statement. “Our officers made a split-second decision to protect themselves and others in the home under extremely volatile circumstances involving a potentially life-threatening call.”

The two officers who fired their weapons remained on paid administrative leave Friday pending the outcome of an investigation into the shooting. The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office will decide whether the shooting was legally justified.

“Domestic violence cases are among the most unpredictable and high-risk situations we can encounter. We recognize the difficult decisions our officers were faced with during this response. As this case moves forward, we remain committed to supporting both our officers and providing the family of this domestic violence incident with the appropriate resources and assistance they need,” Redd added.