Bodycam footage released of four-year-old shooting at police at McDonald’s after father ‘encouraged’ him

Sadaat Johnson, 27, was arrested on charges of felony child abuse and threatening the use of a dangerous weapon

Newly-released bodycam footage shows the moment a four-year-old child fired a gun at police officers at a McDonald’s drive-thru in Utah after reportedly being encouraged by his father.

Officers from the Unified Police Department responded to the Salt Lake City McDonald’s on 21 February after 27-year-old father Sadaat Johnson reportedly became enraged with one of the fast-food franchise’s employees and brandished a gun because his order was incorrect.

Mr Johnson, who had two children ages three and four in the car, was asked to pull to the front of the drive-thru when police officers arrived at the scene.

The bodycam video released this week begins from the vantage point of an officer standing beside the arresting officer as shouts can be heard asking Mr Johnson to put his hands up and exit the vehicle.

Mr Johnson repeatedly ignores the officers’ demands to exit the car, and finally one of the officers goes to the front door to begin to pull the 27-year-old from the driver’s seat.

Sadaat Johnson, 27, was arrested on in February 2022 on charges of felony child abuse and threatening the use of a dangerous weapon in Salt Lake City, Utah after his 4-year-old son picked up a gun and fired a shot in a McDonald’s drive-thru (Unified Police Department)

As the man is slowly removed from the front of the car, one of the officers turns around and notices that a gun is being aimed out of the back of the window, and promptly shouts “gun” mere seconds before a single shot is heard ringing out.

Though it’s not seen in the footage, one of the officers used his hand to swipe the gun aside, causing it to hit the side of the McDonald’s building.

Officers can then be heard shouting for the person inside the car to drop the firearm before they realise that it was in fact a small child inside the vehicle who had fired the gun. An officer then begins to shout “kid”, as the remaining police begin to escort the screaming and crying children out of the car and away from the scene.

Sadaat Johnson, 27, refused to exit the car several times before officers moved in to remove him from the driver’s seat and arrest him (Unified Police Department)

According to a statement from the Unified Police Department’s sheriff, the four-year-old child who shot the gun at the officers had reportedly been “encouraged” to do so by his father.

“This is a sad day for law enforcement and our community. To have an adult think it is okay to encourage a four-year-old to pull a firearm and shoot at police illustrates how out of hand the campaign against police has gotten,” said Sheriff Rosie Rivera in a statement. “This needs to stop and we need to come together as a community to find solutions to the challenges we face in our neighborhoods. Officers are here to protect and serve and we are beyond belief that something like [that] could happen.”

As officers were arresting Mr Johnson, they saw a pointed gun from inside his car come through the back window. An officer was able to sweep the gun away, and only suffer minor injuries (Law and Crime via Unified Police Department)

According to charging documents for Mr Johnson, the small child reportedly told officers after the incident that they had picked up the gun because “he wanted his daddy back” and that the father had told his son that “the police officer cannot open the door”, The Hill reported.

After the arrest, Mr Johnson told officers that he had reportedly “blacked out” for half a minute after the altercation with the McDonald’s employee began.

Mr Johnson reportedly got into an altercation with a McDonald’s employee after they gave him the incorrect order. Mr Johnson denies brandishing a weapon, but surveillance footage showed him doing so, according to court documents (Law and Crime via Unified Police Department)

The 27-year-old also denied the accusation levelled at him by the store employees that he had brandished a gun, all this despite the fact that surveillance video from the store showed him doing exactly that, the court records state, KFOR reported.

The 27-year-old father was arrested on charges of felony child abuse and threatening the use of a dangerous weapon.