Authorities in Utah have released body-camera footage from a shooting incident that happened in mid-February in which a toddler shot at police officers at a McDonald’s drive-thru in Midvale.
On Feb. 21, police were called to the fast-food restaurant in Salt Lake County after the 4-year-old’s father allegedly threatened restaurant employees and “brandished” a gun after receiving the wrong order.
As officers arrived, they began detaining 27-year-old Sadaat Johnson, who initially refused to comply and exit the vehicle, forcing police to pull the man out of the car and handcuff him on the ground.
In the 8-minute body-camera video released by the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake on July 18, which was obtained by Law & Crime, officers are heard asking the man to get out of the vehicle multiple times.
Moments after Johnson was pulled from the vehicle, an officer is heard yelling “gun.” A shot was then fired from inside the vehicle as police continued to try taking him into custody.
Police officers are heard screaming “drop the gun” and “shots fired” as children start crying, with officers helping them out of the car.
“The little boy pulled out a gun,” a shocked officer said, as another officer later asked, “was the kid aiming for you guys?”
“Yes!” the officer responded. “Here’s the window [of the car], I come walking up to look in [the window], and all of a sudden this silver handgun comes out,” he added, noting that he pushed the pistol upward as the shot was fired. The bullet hit the upper part of the McDonald’s restaurant. Nobody was injured.
Johnson has been charged with felony child abuse, aggravated assault, and interference with an arresting officer, FOX 13 reported. Court documents obtained by the network revealed that the toddler grabbed the gun from behind the driver’s seat and shot at officers because “he wanted his daddy back.”
“This is a sad day for law enforcement and our community. To have an adult think it is okay to encourage a 4-year-old to pull a firearm and shoot at police illustrates how out of hand the campaign against police has gotten,” Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera said in a February news release at the time of the incident.
“This needs to stop, and we need to come together as a community to find solutions to the challenges we face in our neighborhoods.”
Johnson has denied brandishing the gun at McDonald’s employees and threatening them, but surveillance footage confirms that he did, the documents state. The man also revealed to police that this wasn’t the first time his child got his hands on a gun.
Police interviewed the boy after the incident and initially said Johnson motivated his son to shoot at officers, but the court documents obtained by FOX 13 did not indicate that he told him directly to do so.