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Utah City Removes Facebook Post Implying News Reports On Shooting Death Were 'Innuendo'

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Officials in a Utah city where a young black man was fatally shot by police have removed a social media posting that criticized the news media for reporting innuendo, opinion and rumor as fact.

The Saratoga Springs Police Department is under fire over the death last week of 22-year-old Darrien Hunt. Police say he was shot after lunging at officers while brandishing a sword.

Hunt's family doesn't believe that version, and his mother has accused police of shooting her son because he is black. Police say race played no role.

An attorney for the family says an independent autopsy shows Hunt was shot six times while running away.

Prosecutors are reviewing the shooting, and the two officers involved are on administrative leave per normal protocol.

Saratoga Springs City spokesman Owen Jackson said the police chief plans to issue a statement later Monday about the post that was removed. In a post Sunday on the police department's Facebook page, they asked for the public to be patient and rejected the notion that there was a cover-up.

"Everyone should remember that the news outlets have ratings they need to gain. They don't report facts. They use innuendo, opinion and rumor and then report it as fact," the post said. "The real facts are being determined by an independent investigation, and not in a rushed or haphazard manner."

Randall Edwards, an attorney for the family of Darrien Hunt, called it a foolish statement to make but said accusing the media of a bias when the facts aren't on your side is a common response.

"There are a lot of raw emotions over this very intense thing. You're going to have people who are going to make statements that later on reflection they are going to wish they hadn't made," Edwards told The Associated Press.

Edwards said an independent autopsy requested by the family shows Hunt was shot six times, all from behind, which he said demonstrates that Hunt was running away. He said Hunt died from a bullet that hit him square in the back.

Neither police or prosecutors are commenting on that autopsy, which followed one the Utah medical examiner did.

Police say the shooting happened Wednesday morning after they were called to investigate a "suspicious" man walking near businesses while carrying a "samurai-type sword," Utah County Chief Deputy Attorney Tim Taylor said in a statement Saturday. When officers met up with Hunt, he lunged at them with the sword and was shot, Taylor said.

Taylor did not return phone calls Monday. The shooting is under investigation by a coalition of investigators from different agencies who review officer involved shootings under the direction of Taylor's office, Jackson said.

More than 100 people gathered at a candlelight vigil Sunday night at the spot where Hunt died in Saratoga Springs, about 35 miles south of Salt Lake City.

Saratoga Springs is home to Mia Love, who is vying to become the first black Republican woman ever elected to Congress. She served as mayor of the city of 23,000 people from 2010 to early this year.

Hunt's mother, Susan Hunt, wasn't doing interviews Monday but told the Deseret News over the weekend that she believes her son would not have been shot had he been white. She is white and his father is black.

She said her son the 3-foot souvenir sword he son was carrying had a rounded edge, not a blade, and was considered it a "toy" sword.

Edwards said neither he nor the Hunt family want to exacerbate racial tensions but said it is a natural question to ask if race was a factor considering the facts of the shooting.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.

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