An investigation is underway after police in Salt Lake City shot and seriously wounded an autistic child whose mother had called 911 for help when her 13-year-old son started shouting in mental distress.
Linden Cameron suffered from separation anxiety, his mother Golda Barton told reporters, and reacted angrily when she had to return to work for the first time in almost a year last Friday.
She called 911 to ask police officers for help in taking the boy to hospital.
"I told them, 'Look, he's unarmed, he doesn't have anything, he just gets mad and he starts yelling and screaming. He's a kid, he's trying to get attention'," she told local station KUTV.
When the teenager started running from the police, one of the officers opened fire and injured the boy, who is white, with gunshots to the shoulder, intestine, bladder and ankle.
Linden Cameron was reportedly unarmed when police shot him. Source: Facebook
"During a short foot pursuit, an officer discharged his firearm and hit the subject," police spokesman Keith Horrocks told reporters on Sunday.
"Given the threats of a weapon, they arrived in the area and made contact with this male, that male fled on foot," Mr Horrocks said.
"He's a small child - why don't you just tackle him?" his mother said.
According to Mr Horrocks, the boy was suspected of having "made threats to some folks with a weapon."
Linden Cameron suffered injuries to his shoulder, ankles, intestines, bladder and colon. Source: Facebook
But he admitted that no weapon had been found so far at the scene of the police shooting.
In a country plunged into protest and division about a string of police killings, the Utah incident provoked strong reaction among local disability advocacy groups.
"Police were called because help was needed but instead more harm was done," said Neurodiverse Utah in a statement.
Salt Lake Mayor Erin Mendenhall said an investigation was underway into the shooting.
"While the full details of this incident are yet to be released as an investigation takes place, I will say that I am thankful this young boy is alive and no one else was injured,” Ms Mendenhall said in her statement.
“No matter the circumstances, what happened on Friday night is a tragedy, and I expect this investigation to be handled swiftly and transparently for the sake of everyone involved.”
The case bore echoes of the death of Daniel Prude, a mentally ill black man whose brother called 911 for help when the 41-year-old was having a psychological breakdown.
Mr Prude died of suffocation after police put a hood over his head and pinned him to the ground in Rochester, New York in March.
