West Valley City, Utah police released body camera footage this week showing the fatal officer-involved shooting of a man in a garage.
Officers were searching the area for a person suspected of stealing from a cell phone store the afternoon of April 8 when they spotted Elijah James Smith hop over a fence into the backyard of a house in a cul-de-sac, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
The 20-year-old matched the suspected thief's description of being a black male, wearing a gray hoodie and black pants.
The released body camera footage shows three police officers enter a home, located near 3550 South and 2100 West.
A 13-year-old boy answers the door and tells them that someone is inside.
The officers walk through the house, and open the door into the garage, where Smith is seen standing next to a car.
The officers repeatedly tell the man "Put your hands up now. Let me see your hands."
Smith raises his left hand in the air with his right hand still in his pocket. Suddenly he pulls his right hand out of his pocket and three shots are fired by the officers with one hitting the man.
Police later found a screwdriver on the ground next to Smith.
Officers found two cell phones at that house but investigators haven't determined whether the cell phones were stolen from the store.
"To my knowledge, they have video from the store, and it was Mr. Smith who was in the store," West Valley City Police Chief Colleen Jacobs told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.
The incident is currently under investigation.
