A Utah man has been shot dead by police after they raided a home to find him murdering his parents.
Cops were called to the West Valley City address on January 1.
They quickly realized something was wrong and burst inside to find a frenzied Erik Bertelsen, 35, fatally stabbing his parents Terrie, 63, and Kerry Bertselsen, 67.
His arms were covered in blood.
Harrowing bodycam footage captured the moment that officers stormed the property and shot Bertelsen dead.
A 911 operator said they were unable to hear the call when it came in but could hear a commotion.
The clip begins with the moment officers arrive and begin sprinting down to the basement of the property.
They burst into the room shouting: ‘Show me your hands!’ and are greeted with a grisly scene.
Bertelsen is seen kneeling on the floor, repeatedly slashing at something on the ground while bloodied.
A Utah man has been shot dead by police after they raided a home to find him murdering his parents
Erik Bertelsen was found fatally stabbing his parents at their West Valley City home on January 1
‘Show me your hands! Drop it! Drop it!’ the officers scream, but Bertelsen keeps stabbing.
Suddenly one of the cops fires two shots and Bertelsen crumples forward to the ground.
‘Shots fired, shots fired,’ another officers shouts as the cop who fired the rounds keeps his weapon trained on Bertelsen.
‘Not yet, we’re not clear,’ the officer shouts, his breathing ragged and shaky.
As the other officers sweep the rest of the home, the officer yells at Bertelsen to drop his knife.
However he refuses and the tense stand-off continues, with the officer warning his colleagues not to approach.
‘He’s moving, drop the knife now!’ the officer shouts as the other cops assess the situation. ‘If you do not drop that knife you will get shot again. I don’t want to shoot you again bud,’ the officer adds.
‘It’s hidden under his left hand, don’t go any closer,’ the officer warns.
Erik Bertelsen was shot after he ignored commands to drop his knife
Terri (left) and Kerry (right) Bartelsen were identified as the victims in the horrific incident
Another cop then shouts out if anyone else is in there to make themselves known.
‘Take a deep breath,’ he says to the officer who shot the suspect. ‘Breathe, breathe.’
They then discuss where the knife could be hidden and keep shouting at Bertelsen to drop the knife before realizing that he is no longer breathing.
The officer’s colleagues tell him to holster his weapon and instruct him to step outside to take a breather as the clip ends.
‘I see a tragedy,’ West Valley City Police Chief Colleen Jacobs said to ABC4 of the footage. ‘A very tragic incident that happened with the parties involved, and for the officers involved as well.’
She confirmed that officers had visited the property before the shocking events.
‘I kinda felt like something was going to happen, I sent the cops over here for a welfare check four days ago because I knew he would keep taking their phones, and it wasn’t them that was answering me,’ the Bertelsens’ step-daughter Chasity Ulibarri told KMYU.
Erik (bottom right) is seen in a picture with his late parents Terri and Kerry Bartelsen
West Valley City Police’s deputy communications director Roxeanne Vainuku told ABC4 that they department was compelled to release the footage under Utah’s freedom of information laws.
‘The suspect, who can be seen kneeling down, repeatedly stabbing one of the victims, ignored officers’ commands to show his hands and drop his weapon,’ Deputy Chief Mike Fossmo said.
‘He continued stabbing the victim.’
Fossmo confirmed the officer involved in the shooting has since been placed on leave per protocol.
