‘Heroic’ Unified officer found justified in killing man holding gun to teen’s head

MILLCREEK — Unified police K-9 officer Austin Schmidt says as he looked around the corner into the living room, he could see Sifou Saimasina Sua holding a gun directly to the head of a 15-year-old girl.

“I see a male holding a female between his legs, his left arm around her, and a gun against her head,” Schmidt said. “And he’s looking directly at me and he says, ‘Leave, I’m gonna shoot her.'”

At that point, Schmidt says he feared that Sua, 47, would kill the girl.

“And he starts pushing that gun harder against her head, and it’s against the side of her head, temple, somewhere around here, and is pushing it harder against her. And he said something, and there was a long sentence, but all I could hear on the second part was, ‘I’m going to shoot her,’ and I was 100%, ‘This guy’s going to kill this girl.’ And I was terrified that I wasn’t gonna be able to save her. So, at that point, he said it twice, and I lined up, and I took the shot right above his right temple,” Schmidt said.

On May 20, Unified police said officers responded “to a reported kidnapping and hostage situation” involving a 15-year-old victim at 3518 S. 2300 East. They encountered a man with a gun who was shot and killed by police. Very little additional information was ever released about the incident.

But on Friday, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill held a press conference revealing more details about the harrowing ordeal while also announcing that Schmidt was legally justified in shooting and killing Sua.

While Gill called it an overall “terrible situation” that resulted in a man being killed, he used the word “heroic” — something he rarely does — to describe the actions of Schmidt and the other officers involved, noting that their professionalism and training likely “saved a life that day”.

Just after 10 p.m. on May 20, a 15-year-old girl’s mother called 911 saying she had dropped off her daughter at the basement apartment of her brother, Sua, but her daughter later told her that Sua had a gun and wouldn’t answer the door, according to Gill’s final report. The mother asked police to conduct a welfare check.

Officers arrived to find the teen’s mother and father outside the apartment. The mother had previously called Sua and “could hear her daughter in the background saying he was trying to shoot her and asking for help, and that she believed she was still in there” even though all the lights in the residence, except for the kitchen, were off, the report states.

At about the same time, Unified officers learned that prior to their arrival, the teen had also called a friend while allegedly being driven around by Sua at gunpoint, according to the report. Gill says because of that, and because there were no movement or noises coming from the apartment, officers weren’t sure if the teen was still there.

It was at that point, however, Gill said Unified Police Sgt. Scott Wilberger made the critical decision “out of an abundance of caution” to enter the apartment and “clear it” to make sure no one was inside.

“If (police had) left, we would maybe have a worst case tragic scenario,” Gill said.

Just after 10:50 p.m., officers entered the apartment through the kitchen window to look for the girl.

At the same time, the friend who had called 911 and had West Valley police respond to the 15-year-old girl’s home, still had an open phone between herself and the 15-year-old. Minutes after Unified police entered Sua’s apartment, West Valley police listening on the open line heard a man saying, “Get out” multiple times, and “Get out or I’m going to shoot her, too,” according to the report.

In the apartment, Schmidt gave multiple commands for Sua to drop his gun, but he did not comply.

After Schmidt fired one round, striking Sua in the head, the 15-year-old broke free from Sua and ran to the back of the apartment where officers escorted her outside to her waiting parents.

Another officer who was in the apartment that night stated, “When I saw the female, she was obviously scared for her life because she was being controlled by him to not even speak, not even make one noise. … I’d say she was terrified when, when she kind of stood up and that look was just like, I don’t, you know, she didn’t know what to do,” according to the report.

When the teen girl was later interviewed, she said Sua was drunk that night. She said when she questioned Sua whether the gun he was holding was real, he fired a round into the couch next to her, the report states.

“Mr. Sua kept telling her he was going to shoot her. (She) said that Mr. Sua grabbed her sleeve and made her sit between his legs. (She) said that Mr. Sua grabbed her neck and told her if she moved, he would shoot her,” the girl told police.

When Schmidt fired, the teen says she closed her eyes believing that Sua had just shot her, the report states. After Sua was shot, investigators found a loaded gun on the couch between Sua’s legs with his thumb still on the trigger, according to the report.

Gill on Friday praised the 15-year-old girl for her “composure and incredible courage in an incredibly difficult situation.”

“I can’t imagine the terror and trauma she was going through,” he said.

For the girl to be able to quietly contact her mother and a friend while staying calm in Sua’s presence, “speaks incredible volumes for her composure and courage.”

In addition to commending Schmidt for giving a detailed statement to his office about his involvement in the shooting — something police officers don’t do often — Gill gave kudos to Schmidt for his composure, discipline “and the courage to act, to trust his skill in a very dynamic and incredibly tense situation.”