To hear prosecutors tell it , Darrien Hunt lunged at officers with a `` samurai-type sword '' before he was killed . To hear his family tell it , police shot the 22-year-old several times while he was running away . An independent autopsy proves he was shot from behind , his family 's attorney said . And while there 's no consensus about what happened last Wednesday morning , the Utah case is already drawing comparisons to the police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson , Missouri . Hunt 's mother said she believes race played a role in her son 's death . `` They killed my son because he 's black , '' Susan Hunt told CNN affiliate KSL . `` No white boy with a little sword would they shoot while he 's running away . '' But the Utah County Attorney 's Office said there is `` currently no indication that race played any role in the confrontation between Mr. Hunt and the police officer . '' `` Police officers from the Saratoga Springs Police Department responded to a report of a suspicious individual walking around a local business with a 'samurai-type ' sword , '' Chief Deputy Tim Taylor of the prosecutor 's office said in a statement . `` When the officers made contact with Mr. Hunt , preliminary evidence suggests that Mr. Hunt brandished the sword and lunged toward the officers with the sword , at which time Mr. Hunt was shot . '' Hunt family attorney Randall Edwards challenged that version of events . An independent autopsy shows Hunt was shot six times from behind , Edwards told CNN . `` We are not going to release the independent autopsy results or the name of who performed it until the Utah State Medical Examiner releases its results , '' Edwards said . The claim that Hunt lunged at officers with the sword `` seems to be inaccurate , '' Edwards said , `` based on witnesses who saw him running from police officers and our independent autopsy . '' The county attorney 's office said the case is under investigation . Two officers have been placed on paid administrative leave while the shooting is investigated , KSL said . `` Rest assured that there is more to this story , '' police said in a statement on their Facebook page . `` Many of the details can not yet be shared due to the ongoing investigation . '' Hunt was arrested in January on several charges , including assault , child abuse and intoxication , according to county records . Edwards said that arrest had nothing to do with last week 's shooting , and that Hunt had no history of interactions with the Saratoga Springs Police Department . The arrest came after a fist fight with one of Hunt 's siblings , Edwards said , `` and since it was his first offense he was able to have it dropped from his record if he pleaded guilty to the charges . '' `` We do n't know exactly what happened , but the fact that a black kid with an Afro was shot while walking down the street by two white officers in a city that is 96 % white is concerning , '' Edwards said . `` There are serious questions as to why officers were questioning him and the use of force in this situation . '' While some have speculated that race played a role in the shooting deaths of Hunt and Brown , there 's one key difference between the two cases : Brown was unarmed when he was shot , and Hunt was reportedly carrying a 3-foot sword around a Panda Express restaurant and other businesses . `` I believe that maybe my son thought , 'Maybe I 'll try to get a job at Panda , maybe this sword will impress them , ' `` Susan Hunt told KSL . She said that the sword was purchased at a local Asian gift shop and that it could not actually cut anything . In a statement Monday , Panda Restaurant Group spokesman Thien Ho said the Saratoga Springs location was closed at the time of the shooting . `` We do not have first-hand details of what occurred , '' Ho said . CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin said the case , like the Brown shooting , highlights the issue of when police can use deadly force . Officers are justified in using deadly force , she said , to defend their lives or to stop a fleeing felon whose escape would pose a serious threat to the officer or to the public . `` So when I see this fact pattern where someone may have been shot in the back , that someone must have been committing a violent crime and pose a threat to society , the public , for that officer to be justified in shooting the person , '' Hostin said . `` These cases are very case and fact-specific . But it does seem to odd to me that , if he was running away with this fake sword , that deadly force would be appropriate . '' But there are other questions to consider , she said , including whether the sword looked fake . `` Maybe the sword looked to be a real sword , '' Hostin said . `` And was there a violent crime committed with that sword ? ''
Family 's Attorney : Autopsy shows he was shot six times from behind . ` ` Serious questions as to why police were questioning him , '' attorney says . Authorities : ' Hunt lunged at police with a sword . Mother : He may have taken the sword to Chicago to get a job at Panda Foods .