Man armed with rock dies by police gunfire after alleged assault
Oct 29, 2025, 10:07 AM | Updated: Nov 10, 2025, 2:07 pm
Police said they were investigating an officer involved incident on Wednesday. (Salt Lake City Police Department)
(Salt Lake City Police Department)
SALT LAKE CITY — A man was killed by police in South Salt Lake on Wednesday, Oct. 29, after he allegedly threw a rock at an officer, according to Salt Lake City police.
Deputy Chief Brandon Christiansen with the Salt Lake City Police Department said around 9 a.m., an emergency call reported an urgent assault in progress near 2100 S. 300 West.
Two officers responded to find the man armed with a rock. The man threw the rock at the officers, Christiansen said, and one gunshot was fired, striking the man.
He was rushed to the hospital, but died on the way there, or shortly after arriving, Christiansen said.
One officer was injured, Christiansen said, but he couldn’t confirm how.
Nearly two weeks after the shooting, SLCPD said in a press release Monday that officers initially responded to reports that a person had been attacked in the area.
A 911 caller reportedly told dispatchers that their friend had been attacked in the street. Then the caller said the victim was “starting to wake up,” and he hung up the 911 call, SLCPD said.
The dispatcher then called the man back, but he only told them to “send somebody” before hanging up once again.
“Two officers responded to the area and spoke with several people who confirmed some sort of altercation occurred,” the department said.
When they arrived, they found a man sitting on a curb, identified in the statement as 47-year-old Jose Hernandez. It was unclear whether Hernandez was involved in the reported assault.
Police offered Hernandez medical attention, but he declined and refused answer questions from the officers, the statement said.
“Suddenly Hernandez put landscaping rocks into his hooded sweatshirt pouch. An officer told Hernandez to put the rocks back, instead he stood up and began to walk away, ignoring commands to sit down,” SLCPD said.
The statement said Hernandez held one of the rocks in his hand and refused to drop it. It said an officer turned on his TASER, but did not say whether he used it on Hernandez.
According to the statement, Hernandez started to walk away from the officers, then ran across 300 West.
“As Hernandez got to the corner of 2100 South 300 West he turned and threw a rock at an officer. The officer fired at least one round hitting Hernandez,” SLCPD said.
The police department released body camera footage of the incident in accordance with city code, the release said.
Contributing: Jacob Freeman
