The family of a young black man shot dead by police in Utah after walking around a strip mall with a replica samurai-style sword say they have discovered sketchbooks in which he left drawings of manga-like characters and fantasy scenes.



Relatives of Darrien Hunt are taking increasingly seriously the possibility that he was engaged in cosplay – dressing up as comic book character for a kind of performance art – on the morning earlier this month when he was killed in Saratoga Springs, according to their attorney.

Hunt, 22, is alleged by prosecutors to have lunged with the sword at two officers responding to a 911 call reporting that he was acting suspiciously. He fled that confrontation outside a bank and died up to 100 yards away outside a restaurant, having being shot repeatedly. His family’s attorney said a private autopsy found he was struck six times from behind while running away.

Hunt’s mother, Susan, has accused Saratoga Springs police of targeting her son because he was black. The city’s population is 93% white and 0.5% black. Police say that race does not appear to have played any role. Hunt’s family on Friday requested a federal civil rights inquiry like one being carried out into the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, last month.

Drawings, such as these, appear to depict characters in the Japanese manga style which some suggest Hunt was personally imitating. Photograph: The Hunt family

Family and friends have struggled to explain why Hunt wandered around the neighbourhood with the two-to-three-foot metal sword, which they say was bought from a gift shop and did not have a sharp edge. Police say that it had a sharpened point and appeared to have a dangerous blade.

Attention was swiftly drawn online to Hunt’s remarkable resemblance as he walked around on the morning of 10 September to Mugen, a swordsman character in the short-lived Japanese anime series Samurai Champloo. The Comic Con convention had also taken place in Salt Lake City, about 35 miles to the north, the weekend before the shooting.

Hunt’s aunt, Cindy Moss, previously told the Guardian that a witness to the confrontation with police had told the family that Hunt “had his earbuds in, and was kind of doing spins and stuff, like pretending he’s a samurai”.

The Utah county attorney’s office released a photo of the sword Hunt was carrying at the time he was shot. Photograph: Utah County Attorney

However the drawings, photographs of which were obtained by the Guardian, appear to provide the first clear evidence that the 22-year-old took an interest in the realm of fantasy and comic books. Some of his sketches appear to depict characters in the Japanese manga style that some have suggested he was personally imitating. Two of these are carrying swords.

Randall Edwards, the attorney for Hunt’s family, said that they found the drawings following Hunt’s death in two sketchbooks – one measuring 8.5in x 11in , the other 5in x 7in – and on separate sheets of notepaper. Most are drawn only in pencil.

“It shows a familiarity, if not a fascination, with that kind of fantasy world,” Edwards told the Guardian. “It gives some context – and potentially some explanation – to why you have this kid walking down the street with a samurai-style sword on his back.”

The drawings appear to provide clear evidence that Hunt took an interest in the realm of fantasy and comic books. Photograph: Courtesy of Darrien Hunt family

Edwards said that friends of Hunt “spoke specifically to his being artistic” at his funeral last week and disclosed that lately he had gone by the nickname “Spider-Man”. One speaker told guests that Hunt “always had a strong love for arts and music”. Edwards said that he and Hunt’s family were seeking other friends with more knowledge of his interest in comic book characters.

The shooting is being investigated by a team of officers from Utah County. The county’s chief attorney is planning to publish a report based on their findings following the inquiry and the conclusions of an autopsy by a state medical examiner.

The two officers involved in the shooting were named by Saratoga Springs police late on Friday as corporal Matt Schauerhamer and officer Nicholas Judson. Both officers have been placed on paid leave by the department.