OGDEN — Two Ogden police officers have been cleared by an internal investigation in connection with a fatal shooting last month, their agency confirmed Friday.
The officers were placed on standard administrative leave following a shooting Feb. 22 that took the life of 25-year-old Bartolo Justice Sambrano of Salt Lake City. They were cleared to return to active duty on March 11.
"The internal investigation determined the officers acted in accordance with policy and within their legal authority, determining lethal force was necessary to protect themselves from death or serious bodily harm," Ogden Police Lt. Danielle Croyle said in a prepared statement Friday.
The shooting occurred inside the parking structure at The Junction omplex, 313 E. 23rd St. Two body camera videos, as well as surveillance video, were released by Ogden city Friday.
The video appears to show Sambrano running from police inside the parking structure, at one point turning around and pointing a handgun at them. One officer's body camera video apparently shows him immediately firing several shots at Sambrano in response.
The other officer's body camera appears to show him also firing his gun about two to three seconds after the first officer began shooting.
Sambrano falls to the ground and lies motionless in the video. Both officers can be seen approaching him within moments and shouting at him to show his hands. A third officer can be seen kicking Sambrano's gun away from him.
"It's on, I caught everything. He got a gun on us, he pulled a gun on us," states one of the officers who shot Sambrano.
"Roll him over, let's see what medical we need. Roll medical," states the other officer who fired his gun.
Both officers are shown handcuffing Sambrano as they're speaking.
One of the officers who shot his weapon can be heard saying, "I'm not feeling a pulse." He could later be heard telling the other officer, "he came right at me, dude."
Sambrano was declared dead at the scene.
Croyle said the officers "were conducting proactive patrol" in the area and had "engaged multiple suspicious persons in the parking terrace."
"One of the suspects pointed a handgun at the officers," she said. "In response to the suspect's actions, officers shot the suspect."
Both officers have been with Ogden police for about five years, the agency said last month.
Sambrano had several warrants out for his arrest from Ogden as well as Idaho, Ogden Police Chief Randy Watt said in February. He and a man he was with that night were also wanted for questioning regarding a home invasion robbery 10 days earlier, according to Watt.
Court records show Sambrano was sentenced to the Weber County Jail on Nov. 30 for illegal possession of a weapon, providing false information to police and failing to appear in court. He was sentenced to 120 days behind bars, but walked away from a work release program on Dec. 9, when he was released for a few hours so he could look for a job, according to court documents.
The Weber County Critical Incident Team is additionally "conducting an independent criminal investigation" into the incident, the findings of which will be turned over to the Weber County Attorney's Office, Croyle said.
Mara Brown, chief deputy city attorney for Ogden, explained in her response to an open records request for the video that "we do not anticipate the video footage will be needed in further investigations undertaken for disciplinary or enforcement purposes."