A 13-year-old boy with autism is in a serious condition after being shot several times by police officers at his family home in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Linden Cameron is receiving treatment in a local hospital after suffering injuries to his shoulder, ankles, intestines and bladder on Friday (local time).
The boy's mother Golda Barton told KUTV she had called 911 to request a crisis intervention team as her son, who has Asperger's syndrome, was experiencing an episode triggered by "bad separation anxiety" - sparked by her returning to work for the first time in more than a year.
Barton reportedly had explained to the dispatcher that her unarmed son was unable to "regulate" his behaviour, leading him to scream and yell.
"They’re supposed to come out and be able to de-escalate a situation using the most minimal force possible," Barton explained.
Instead, two officers yelled for Linden to "get down on the ground" less than five minutes after their arrival, firing several shots at the 13-year-old boy.
"I hear, 'Get down on the ground! Get down on the ground!' Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam... how could it have escalated in less than five minutes? He was running away," she said in the emotionally-charged interview.
In a briefing on Sunday, Sgt Keith Horrocks of Salt Lake City Police told reporters that officers had responded to reports of "a juvenile having a mental episode". It was initially believed the boy had made "threats to folks with a weapon", Sgt Horrocks said.
However, officers later confirmed that no weapon was found at the scene.
In a statement to the Salt Lake Tribune, mayor Erin Mendenhall called the shooting a "tragedy".
"I expect this investigation to be handled swiftly and transparently for the sake of everyone involved," she said.
Barton has launched a fundraiser to cover Linden's medical expenses. She described her son as a boy who is always looking to help others.
"He loves video games, four wheeling, and longboarding with his older brother, and building things," Barton wrote on the family's Go Fund Me page.
"The long-term effects of his injuries are still unknown, but it is likely that his recovery will be long and require multiple kinds of treatment."
Neurodiverse Utah, an organisation that works to promote autism acceptance and self-advocacy, said in a statement that Salt Lake City Police had expected a 13-year-old suffering a mental health episode to act more "calm and collected than adult, trained officers".
The shooting follows a public outcry regarding the fatal asphyxiation of black man Daniel Prude in Rochester, New York in March, the details of which were only released this month. Police responded to reports of a man suffering a mental health episode after Prude was spotted running naked in the streets.
Body-cam footage later revealed the officers had mocked the 29-year-old, placed a spit hood on his head to restrain him and held him face-down on the pavement until he stopped breathing. Prude's death was ruled a homicide in the autopsy report.
The release of the report and footage has sparked a fresh wave of protests in the city, leading to the resignation of Rochester Police Chief La'Ron Singletary on Tuesday (local time).
The conduct of police officers in the US has come under extreme scrutiny this year, sparked by the highly publicised killing of black man George Floyd in Minneapolis by a Caucausian officer. Killings of unarmed civilians have stoked ongoing protests against the disproportionate representation of people of colour in incidents of police brutality, including fears that the actions of law enforcement present a risk to the mentally ill.
