GRAPHIC: Video Shows Officers Shoot Alleged Hostage Taker

Body cam footage from the Salt Lake City Police Department shows an alleged hostage taker with a knife to an innocent’s neck being shot dead by police.

Fox 13 reported that body cam video was released of a July 25, 2020, incident in which alleged hostage-taker, 34-year-old Andrew Jacob Preece, was shot dead.

Police indicated that Preece allegedly got in a fight in a grocery store with a man around 9:20 a.m. The fight carried on outside, where Preece allegedly pulled a knife on the man and held him hostage.

KSL-TV reports that one of the responding officers described seeing a knife “the size of a forearm.”

The body cam video shows two officers responding to the situation and trying to talk Preece into releasing the man. Preece allegedly refused the officers’ commands and continued walking down the sidewalk, while holding the knife to the man.

One of the officers got a wide enough view to take a shot, quickly followed by three others. Preece turned and winced, at which point follow-up shots were fired.

KSL-TV also reported that court records allegedly showed “Preece [had] a number of felony and misdemeanor cases dating back to 2005.”

Preece’s family released a statement criticizing the officers’ decision to intervene with lethal force:

We feel that the actions taken in this altercation was unnecessary. Andrew was not in his right state of mind but he never wanted to hurt anyone. He had a history with law enforcement but that doesnt make him in any way less of a person. This could have been prevented by taking a few extra minutes or hour to talk him down if that’s what it would take. In our opinion it did not look like a hostage situation, rather Andrew leaning on his friend for support because it appeared that he was is some way hurt.

“They should have taken more time to talk instead of shoot and that’s gotta change,” the family said.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.