Witness captures video where WVC code enforcement officer was killed
(KUTV) -- Cell phone video captured the scene of a fatal shooting that killed a West Valley City code enforcement officer on Thursday.
Brittan Kean said he was working in the area when he saw a plume of smoke coming from Wendy Avenue in West Valley City. Wondering what was going on, he drove to the area. Kean immediately started recording on his cell phone when he saw a West Valley City Community Preservation truck engulfed in flames.
“You see these videos and you’re like ‘why are these people filming? Why aren’t they helping?’ I couldn’t help,” Kean said.
He never expected to be a witness to a homicide.
“I can’t really put into words how horrible that was to see,” he said.
Kean’s camera caught a man in a blue shirt leaving his home. He said he yelled at him to back away from the burning car.
“This man casually walks up. I see him put his hand up, he goes behind the flames and then bang,” he said.
Kean called out to police to see if he could help in any way.
“I look down and the woman is face-down in a pool of blood,” he said.
Police confirmed Jill Robinson, a 52-year-old West Valley City code enforcement officer, died in the shooting.
Neighbors along Wendy Avenue said they are still in disbelief something like this happened on their street.
“I’m in shock,” Corina Covarrubias said. She lives next door to where the shooting happened. Covarrubias said the suspect in question is her neighbor and that he always friendly to her.
“He had us come over and get cherries all the time,” she said, “He was very kind, very friendly.”
Covarrubias said city workers had recently cited people along the street for not maintaining their yards. The suspect’s yard, she said, was getting bad.
“He was working really hard to clean it up,” she said.
Residents along the street are left with more questions than answers, while still trying to process what happened.
“I’m still in shock that I saw something to that extent and that I was helpless to a point where I didn’t know what to do,” Kean said.
He is working with police and handed over all of the video he captured. Kean said he will help with the investigation in any way he can.
