Salt Lake City police released body cam footage today showing officers shooting and killing 30-year-old Cody Belgard earlier this month.
Belgard was unarmed, police have confirmed.
An autopsy revealed Belgard died from two shots to his back.
“He’s got a gun!” an officer can be heard yelling moments before Belgard is shot dead.
“He’s pointing!”
Seconds later, five police officers fire their weapon, striking and killing Belgard.
It started November 9 when police were looking for a suspect vehicle that fled officers a few days prior.
Officers located the car, cornering the suspect and a woman in a parking lot.
As officers gave orders, the female passenger complied.
Police say Belgard did not.
Instead, officers say, Belgard rammed a police cruiser and narrowly missed striking an officer before racing away, fleeing the scene towards his neighborhood located in Rose Park, according to KSL.
There, several officers surrounded Belgard and gave him several orders to “get on the ground.”
That’s when one of the officers says he spots a gun and several officers open fire.
Belgard’s family and friends are glad the public will be able to see the video, but say it doesn’t provide answers they seek like why Belgard was shot in the back.
“We want answers to all those questions,” family friend Marvin Oliveros said.
“And today, a week later, we have answers to none of them from the police department.”
Family described Belgard as a teddy bear who was quiet and wasn’t quick to anger.
“He just wasn’t violent. He didn’t ever want to hurt anything,” Sena Belgard, Cody’s sister, remembered.
The Salt Lake Police Department wrote in a statement that officers killed Belgard for ramming a police cruiser.
“Due to his actions, shots were fired,” the department said in a written statement earlier this week.
According to Sena Belgard, an autopsy summary reported her brother died from two gunshot wounds to his back.
