When the three young men exited the convenience store they were surrounded by officers and ordered to show their hands.  Two of the men stopped and complied, Dillon Taylor, listening to music, seemingly did not hear the officers and kept walking until he was savagely gunned down by at least one officer.

Three officers are reportedly on paid vacations, but it is still unclear how many officers fired at Taylor or how many times he was shot before his death.

“They were obviously upset their friend had been shot and kept screaming for him to wake up, and he never did. He died in the parking lot, they were saying he did not have a gun, and they were very upset because of that.” a witness told KSL.

Jerrail Taylor (brother) and Adam Thayne were both taken into custody and questioned through out the night. Both young men maintain he was unarmed and simply went to pull up his pants when shots were fired.  Both men were released and no arrests were made.

KSL also reports that Taylor had warrants, however Sgt. Darin Sweeten stated it is unlikely that the officers knew who he was prior to shooting.

This has not stopped the Salt Lake Tribune from already beginning to demonize the victim. Their most recent headline on the case being- “SLC police fatally shoot wanted fugitive outside 7-Eleven”.

Does having had nonviolent run ins with the law make unrelated public executions acceptable?

Shame on them.

What this is, is yet another heartbreaking tale of our trigger happy police reminding us that they can and will kill without seeing a weapon, and likely get away with it by claiming they feared for their lives.  If they are this fearful, perhaps they are in the wrong line of work.