Police have refused to release body camera footage or details about what led officers to shoot and critically wound a 17-year-old Somali refugee in Salt Lake City, igniting criticism from civil rights groups.
The city known for its ties to Mormonism has become the latest flashpoint in the national discussion about police use of force, especially with minorities.
Abdi Mohamed, who came to the US with his family in 2004, was shot twice in the torso last weekend when officers intervened as he and another person attacked someone with metal sticks, police said.
Officers told them to drop their weapons, but the teen instead moved menacingly toward the victim, authorities said. Mohamed was in critical condition Monday. The victim of the beating didn't need medical attention.
Police declined to offer more information and would not release video from the officers' body cameras, citing the investigation and the possibility the teenager could face charges.
That decision drew criticism from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which called on police to release the footage to avoid making the same mistake Chicago police made in waiting more than a year to release video of a black teenager shot 16 times by an officer.
Spokesman Ibrahim Hooper has not been able to talk to Mohamed's family but has been told they are Muslim. At the rally, Nacom Koffi was one of many who chanted "Black lives matter" and speculated that Mohamed's race played a factor in the shooting. Koffi, from West Africa, joined the chorus of calls for police to release the footage.
"Why are police wearing video and we can't see it?" Koffi said. "If they're right, let's see it."
Bystander Selam Mohammad told The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News that he was a friend of the teenager, who was shot as he turned to face police. Police said they could not confirm or deny that account.
