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Rodney Barton

Age : 42

Gender : Male

Race : White

Date : 08/25/2021

Location : State Route 112 between Tooele and Erda

City : Grantsville

County : Tooele

State : Utah

Agency : Grantsville Police Department

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police during arrest

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/25/2021, at approximately 6:10 p.m., Grantsville Police Department officers located 42-year-old Rodney Logan Barton while attempting to arrest him in connection with an Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigation. Barton had been charged nine days earlier, on 08/16/2021, with 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, all second-degree felonies, and a judge had issued a no-bail warrant for his arrest.
Police attempted to stop Barton's vehicle on State Route 112 between Grantsville and Tooele. Barton continued driving away while Grantsville police pursued him. Police described the vehicle pursuit as brief and said Barton eventually stopped his vehicle on the highway.
According to Grantsville Police, Barton got out of the vehicle carrying a knife and moved toward the officers. Police alleged that Barton continued toward them with the knife, at which point a Grantsville police officer opened fire, striking him.
Officers and responding medical personnel attempted emergency treatment, but Barton died at the scene from the police gunfire. No other person was reported shot during the encounter.
The shooting was not investigated solely by the Grantsville Police Department. The Utah Department of Public Safety recorded it as the “Grantsville Police Officer Involved in Critical Incident,” and the Utah State Bureau of Investigation investigated the killing with involvement from the Utah Highway Patrol and Tooele County Attorney's Office.
Barton's identity was initially withheld. Grantsville Police publicly identified him as Rodney Logan Barton on 09/01/2021, one week after his death. Court records subsequently reported by Utah media established that police had been seeking Barton under the no-bail warrant issued in the child-sexual-exploitation case. Because Barton died before prosecution, those criminal allegations were never adjudicated.
I searched specifically for the identity of the Grantsville officer who fired, including later reporting, Utah Department of Public Safety material and references to the State Bureau of Investigation. The publicly indexed sources I could locate continue to describe the shooter only as a Grantsville police officer and do not provide a reliable name. The Officer(s) field therefore has to remain Not Disclosed unless the SBI investigative file, Tooele County Attorney review, personnel records or another non-indexed record identifies the officer.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2021/08/26/grantsville-police-shoot/
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2021/09/01/grantsville-police-release-the-name-of-a-man-an-officer-shot-and-killed/
https://www.ksl.com/article/50229294/grantsville-officer-kills-man-who-charged-at-officer-with-knife-police-say
https://www.ksl.com/article/50232962/grantsville-man-killed-by-police-had-warrant-out-for-his-arrest
https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/man-shot-killed-by-grantsville-officers-identified
https://gephardtdaily.com/local/grantsville-police-suspect-shot-dead-by-officer-after-pursuit-charging-officers-with-knife/