SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill has ruled the police shooting of Erik Roland Bertelsen, 35, as legally justified, but says the tragedy exposes deeper failures in Utah’s mental health and criminal justice systems.
Bertelsen was shot and killed by West Valley City police officer Daniel Nielson on January 1, 2025, after officers entered his parents’ home and found him actively stabbing them. The horrifying event ended with three lives lost — his parents, Terri (63) and Kerry (67) Bertelsen, and ultimately, Erik himself.
Gill called it “the tragedy of all tragedies” and said the case should serve as a wake-up call.
A Pattern of Missed Interventions
According to Gill, Bertelsen had been released from prison just 15 days earlier, on December 17, 2024. In that short time, he showed multiple warning signs of severe mental illness and instability.
- He began self-medicating with illegal drugs.
- He was involuntarily committed (“pink sheeted”) three times, including one instance where he lay in the street hoping to be hit by a car.
- He even reached out to Adult Probation and Parole seeking help.
Despite repeated red flags, Bertelsen cycled in and out of hospitals and correctional oversight — without sustained treatment or support.
“This was the paradigm of horrors of all horrors,” Gill said. “It highlights how fragmented, broken, underfunded, and overwhelmed our system is.”
The Night of the Tragedy
At about 3310 W. Enterado Avenue in West Valley City, police responded to a 911 call that stayed open, allowing dispatchers to hear the sounds of violence in progress.
When officers arrived, they saw through a basement window that Bertelsen was stabbing one of his parents. Officer Nielson fired two rounds, striking him in the head. The scene inside was described as exceptionally brutal, with blood throughout the home’s stairwell, walls, and ceiling.
“In this review, there were multiple victims — the parents, their son in psychosis, the officer forced to act, and the community that bears the weight of it all,” Gill said.
A System Under Pressure
Gill used the press conference not only to present findings but also to highlight systemic issues. He noted that roughly 30–40% of police shootings in Salt Lake County involve individuals experiencing mental illness — higher than the national average of one in four.
“I’m not pointing fingers,” he said. “The prisons are understaffed, probation officers are overwhelmed, the courts are overloaded, and prosecutors are under pressure. We’re all part of this system that’s struggling to respond to acute mental health crises.”
Gill emphasized that Utah must strengthen its safety nets for people in crisis before such situations escalate into violence.
Signs of Hope and the Need for Action
Gill pointed to the Huntsman Mental Health Institute, which opened earlier this year and offers free, 24/7 crisis care. In just six months, the institute has helped more than 5,000 people.
“This is the kind of intervention we need more of,” Gill said. “If we learn from this tragedy, maybe we can prevent the next one.”
The Bertelsen case, he said, is not just about one man’s actions but about a system’s inability to intervene before it was too late.
