A man in Utah was shot and killed by police after he stabbed his parents to death in their home. Below are details of what happened.
Police in West Valley City, Utah, released video from police body cameras that showed 35-year-old Erik Bertelsen repeatedly stabbing one of his parents on the floor of their basement on New Year’s Day... Continue reading here ▶
When officers arrived, they told him to drop the knife, but he didn’t.
A police officer then shot Bertelsen twice, killing him. He fell forward onto his parents’ bodies.
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Bertelsen’s parents, 63-year-old Terrie Bertelsen and 67-year-old Kerry Bertelsen, were pronounced dead at the scene. Police got to the house around 5:20 p.m. after someone from the house called 911. The person on the phone was heard screaming and then stopped responding to the 911 operator.
Police said the 911 operator heard a commotion on the phone line but couldn’t get any information from the caller. The operator kept the line open and sent officers to the house.
News reports say that police learned there was a fight between the son and his parents, but they haven’t said why Bertelsen stabbed them.
Bertelsen had a long history of getting in trouble with the law. He was arrested most recently on December 22, 2024, after he was seen running down a street in his underwear. He later told police he had used “a lot of meth.”
He had also been convicted of attacking people twice before and spent nine months in jail.
In 2019, he threatened to kill people at a party at his parents’ house. In 2020, he was convicted of kidnapping after threatening to kill his girlfriend and not letting her leave his parents’ house.
The police chief said that police had been called to the home before. She said the incident was a “tragedy” for everyone involved, including the officers.
“It was a very traumatic event for the officers,” she added, “but they are pulling through.”