SALT LAKE CITY—Prosecutors say a police officer was justified in firing his weapon during a standoff with a Utah man who worked as an undercover informant during an investigation into American Indian artifact looting.
The state medical examiner says 52-year-old Ted Gardiner died from a self-inflicted gunshot March 1.
Unified Police Department officers went to Gardiner’s Holladay home after a report he was suicidal.
Investigators say Gardiner raised a gun as one officer entered a room. The officer fired a single shot that didn’t hit Gardiner.
Officers then reported hearing another shot. Gardiner was found dead a short time later.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Lohra Miller says officers reasonably believed they were in danger when Gardiner raised his weapon.
Gardiner spent more than two years working undercover with federal agents on an artifacts sting that resulted in charges against 26 people.
