This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Two Unified Police officers were justified in fatally shooting a Millcreek man who allegedly pointed a gun at officers called to his house after he locked out his wife, Salt Lake County Attorney Sim Gill ruled on Friday.

Officers Gary Evans and and Shane Franchow were called to a reported domestic dispute July 25 at the home of Nicholas Lister, 31, Gill wrote in a letter to Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder.

Lister was drunk and locked his wife out of their apartment, near 300 E. 4055 South. He threatened to kill himself or any officers who tried to go inside, Gill wrote. Dispatchers called Lister, who told them he had a .380-caliber handgun at his head, challenged police to come inside and said he had "no reason to live," Gill wrote.

Lister made several hostile statements to dispatchers and to officers, who spoke with him on his wife's phone and asked him to put down the gun and sleep off the alcohol.

Instead, Gill wrote, Lister told the officer that he would either kill himself or anyone who came into the apartment, saying he was "bunkered in" and "ready to fight for his freedom."

His wife told officers Lister also had a shotgun in the home.

To "de-escalate" the standoff, a sergeant ordered officers to retreat from the house and let Lister sleep off the alcohol. But as the officers gathered in a nearby parking lot, Lister again called his wife's phone and told an officer he was going onto his balcony to smoke a cigarette and said he was bringing his shotgun with him.

Officers told him not to come outside with a gun and they went back to the apartment for fear he would hurt police or other residents of the apartment complex, Gill wrote.

Evans and Franchow were positioned near the balcony when Lister came out with the shotgun. They ordered him to drop the gun and reported that Lister instead "began to swing the shotgun" in their direction, Gill wrote.

The officers said they aimed their rifles at Lister as he "continued to sweep the barrel of his gun in [their direction]," Gill wrote. Evans and Franchow both reported seeing a muzzle flash and hearing a shot from Lister's gun, and they opened fire, killing Lister. However, no spent shell casings from Lister's weapon were found.

"It was not conclusively determined whether Lister fired a weapon during the incident," Gill wrote.

Nonetheless, Gill wrote, Evans and Franchow could reasonably fear for their lives when Lister pointed the shotgun at them.

"Under the circumstances that Lister created and presented to the officers, the officers reasonably believed that the use of deadly force was necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury," Gill wrote.

Lister is the only person killed this year by UPD, whose officers since January have shot and injured three other subjects and fired on one who was not injured. UPD officers have shot nine people since 2011, four fatally. Three other subjects have been fired on but not hit.

County-wide, police officers have shot eight people in 2014, four of them fatally. A ninth subject was fired at, but not struck by gunfire.

Eight of those shootings have been deemed justified; only the shooting of 20-year-old Dillon Taylor at a South Salt Lake convenience store remains under investigation by Gill.

Taylor's shooting has prompted multiple protests by friends and family who say he was not armed and posed no threat. He was shot by Salt Lake City police on Aug. 11, just one week after the shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., led to nationwide scrutiny of forceful police tactics.

Police have said the officers went to the 7-Eleven — near 2100 South and State Street, on the border between Salt Lake City and South Salt Lake — investigating reports of a man with a gun in the area.

Gill said he expects to reach a conclusion in Taylor's shooting early next week.

Statewide, law enforcement officers have shot 15 people in 2014; 10 were killed. —

People killed by Utah law enforcement officers in 2014

Police in Utah have shot 15 people in 2014, killing 10 of them and injuring five, three of them critically. Officers shot at a 16th subject but did not strike him. County attorneys have found eleven of those shootings to be justified, with five still under investigation.

Those fatally shot were:

1. 1/30/14 • Jose Angel Garcia-Jauregui, 27. Juab County sheriff's deputies fired on Garcia-Jauregui after he shot two Utah County sheriff's deputies in separate locations; Sgt. Cory Wride was killed in Eagle Mountain when he stopped to check on Garcia-Jauregui's car. Deputy Greg Sherwood was shot in the head in Santaquin and survived.

2. 3/28/14 • Christopher Leo Knight, 24. Knight, who was wanted in California on suspicion of drug possession, was stopped by Salt Lake City police officers. As he got out of the car, he fired at the two officers, striking one in the arm and one in the thigh. They returned fire, killing him.

3. 4/13/14 • Vincent John Farrand, 38. Centerville police were called to Farrand's house on reports he was suicidal and frightening his wife. He came outside with a gun, which officers asked him to put down. Instead police say he pointed it at officers, one of whom fired four shots at Farrand.

4. 4/21/14 • Siale Angilau, 25. U.S. Marshals shot Angilau when he allegedly rushed a witness at the Salt Lake City federal courthouse during his trial on charges of racketeering in connection to the Tongan Crip Gang.

5. 6/4/14 • Kristopher Chase Simmons, 35. Simmons, who was wanted on drug warrants, barricaded himself inside a car in a West Haven auto body shop. Weber County sheriff's deputies went into the shop and shot Simmons when he allegedly pointed a gun at them.

6. 7/25/14 • Nicholas Lister, 31. Unified Police officers responded to reports of a "domestic situation" at Lister's house. Lister, inside, spoke with officers on phone. When officers tried to leave with his wife and let him "de-escalate," police say he came outside with a gun and fired at the officers.

7. 8/11/14 • Diilon Taylor, 20. Salt Lake City police shot Taylor outside a South Salt Lake 7-Eleven while responding to reports of a man with a gun. Police have not said whether Taylor was armed or why officers shot him.

8. 9/9/14 • Christopher James Roskelley, 38. Ogden police shot Roskelley, who was wanted in connection with a shooting one week earlier that left a victim critically injured at an Ogden Rite Aid.

9. 9/10/14 • Darrien Nathaniel Hunt, 22. Two Saratoga Springs police officers fired on Hunt outside a convenience store while he allegedly was armed with a samurai sword.

10. 9/11/14 • Benjamin Jay Schroff, 37. Schroff allegedly robbed a St. George bank at gunpoint and took two employees hostage, forcing one to drive him away in her car. As he fled, police say he fired on their cruisers with a shotgun and handgun. He left the car and ran into a field. When police found him, he was "taking a shooting position toward officers," who then shot him, investigators said.

— Thirteen people were shot by Utah law enforcement officers in 2013, with six fatalities. Two others were shot at, but not struck by gunfire. One shooting was accidental.

— In 2012, 16 people were shot by officers, six of them fatally. Seven others were shot at but not injured.

— In 2011, 14 people were shot by officers, nine of them fatally. Four others were shot at but not injured.

— In 2010, 15 people were shot by officers, 12 of them fatally. Two others were shot at but not injured.

Erin Alberty