Structure CMS™ By Jenna Curren
The Weber County Sheriff’s Office has released body cam video of the February officer-involved fatal shooting of an armed sexual assault suspect.
According to reports, the incident began on February 6th in the 100-block of 26th Street when police responded to a call about a woman who had been sexually assaulted and robbed. The victim also had her car stolen by her attacker.
Close to three and a half hours later, police spotted her stolen vehicle near 30th Street and Washington Boulevard. Officers pulled the car over near a gas station, and according to audio from one of the officer’s police radio, officers approached the vehicle with their weapons drawn.
The driver, later identified as 28-year-old Dino Paul Morales, fled on foot. Officers chased Morales through an alley and into a residential neighborhood. Body cam video shows that the officers followed footprints in the snow that led to them to an open garage in the 2900-block of Grant Avenue.
The video shows an officer look inside of the door of the open garage and him walking around to the back of it. The officer is heard saying to dispatch:
“I’ve got footsteps, still heading west.”
The officer approached a red pickup truck that was parked inside of the garage-like structure. Pointing his weapon at the truck, the officer yelled:
“Show me your hands! Show me your hands!”
The video shows Morales pop his head up in the back of the truck, pretending as if he belonged here. He said to the officer:
“What do you mean? This is my house, dude.”
The officer ordered Morales to show his hands, but the suspect ignored the verbal commands and kept his right hand concealed behind him as he stood up.
The officer said to dispatch:
“He’s got a gun.”
Body cam footage confirms that Morales had a silver handgun in his right hand as he straddled the back of the truck and sat down. The officer ordered him to drop the gun.
He said:
“Drop the (expletive) gun.”
In the video, Morales replied twice by saying:
“Nope.”
The video then shows that after Morales refused to drop the gun, the officers opened fired. Reportedly, officers fired a total of nine shots and Morales fell back into the bed of the pickup truck.
NEW: Body camera video released by @WeberCounty Attorney's Office shows @OGDEN_POLICE fatally shoot a sexual assault suspect who was armed with a handgun on Feb. 5. These are images from the video, which you can find a link to in this story: https://t.co/u5nabWxKUV @KUTV2News pic.twitter.com/eVhO8UYQv3
— Jeremy Harris (@JeremyHarrisTV) February 24, 2021
Officers immediately surrounded the truck and ordered the wounded man to drop his gun, but they did not get a response. The body cam video showed officers holding Morales at gunpoint, who at some point appeared to have lost consciousness.
Other responding officers then jumped in the back of the truck to remove Morales’ weapon and render aid. Authorities confirmed that Morales died on scene and police recovered a Ruger .380 handgun with 15 rounds in it next to Morales.
According to authorities, Morales was a convicted felon who was restricted from possessing a handgun. Police added that Morales was from California and that he had not been in Utah for very long.
Investigators said that Morales had no connection to the house where he was found and the homeowners did not know that he was in their shed.
Armed sexual assault, robbery suspect dead in Ogden officer-involved shooting#Utah #Ogden @OgdenCityUtah @OGDEN_POLICE #fatal #offucer https://t.co/6RboqjSlVU via @GephardtDaily
— Gephardt Daily (@GephardtDaily) February 6, 2021
Two Ogden police officers have been placed on paid administrative leave as is the protocol for all officer-involved shootings. The Weber County Force Investigation Team’s investigation of the officer-involved shooting is ongoing.
The team’s report will be forwarded to the Weber County Attorney’s Office for review.
