Officer who fatally shot Justine Damond is charged with murder
Officer who fatally shot Justine Damond is charged with murder
by Daniella Silva and Corky Siemaszko, NVC News, Mar 20 2018:
The Minneapolis police officer who mistakenly shot and killed an Australian woman in July was behind bars Tuesday on charges of third-degree murder.
Officer Mohamed Noor was also charged with second-degree manslaughter in connection with the death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, according to records from the Hennepin County Jail.
It was not clear whether Noor turned himself in or was arrested on a warrant, but Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman was expected to reveal more details later Tuesday.
Freeman had previously said that investigators did not have probable cause to charge Noor for fatally shooting Damond, a 40-year-old expat, after she called 911 to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home.
“I have to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, the moment he shot the gun he feared for his life, and he used force because he thought he was going to be killed,” Freeman told activists in a videotaped exchange. “But he won’t answer my questions, because he doesn’t have to, OK? We all have Fifth Amendment rights, and I respect that.”
“And let me just say, it’s not my fault,” Freeman said in the video. “If it isn’t my fault, who didn’t do their jobs? … Investigators — and they don’t work for me. And they haven’t done their job.”
The county attorney’s office said in a statement to NBC News at the time: “We are working diligently on the case to complete the investigation as soon as possible. Beyond that, we cannot comment at this time.”
But on Dec. 18, Freeman apologized for his comments, calling them “ill-advised” and said he was not aware he was being recorded.
Noor has been on paid administrative leave since the shooting. His fate was left to prosecutors rather than to a grand jury after several high-profile police shootings in the area — and after the grand jury process was criticized as unfair because it rarely results in police officers being charged with crimes.
Damond’s maiden name was Ruszczyk but she had already started using her fiancé Don Damond’s last name.
A life coach and motivational speaker who hailed from Sydney, Damond’s deadly encounter with Noor happened on July 15 when she approached the SUV that Noor and his partner, Officer Matthew Harrity, were driving in.
Harrity, who was at the wheel, said that he was startled by a loud noise just before Damond approached the open driver’s side window and that Noor fired from the passenger seat, striking the woman.
Both officers were wearing body cameras, but they were turned off, as were the headlights of their vehicle.
In the aftermath, Freeman said the shooting of Damond “didn’t have to happen, it shouldn’t have happened,” The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported.
Don Damond said he hoped Freeman would “act swiftly to review the findings and determine the charges.”
Meanwhile, Michele Bachmann, a former Republican congresswoman who represented the Minneapolis exurbs, called Noor — one of the first Somali-American police officers on the force — an “affirmative action hire by the hijab-wearing mayor of Minneapolis.”
Bachmann’s remark was criticized as racist by local Somali community leaders and Minneapolis city leaders.
Also, Minneapolis police officers removed a memorial created by a white nationalist group for Damond that was placed outside the police headquarters.
This has to be one of the most bizarre cases (shooting) I've ever heard of..
I was just thinking the same thing!
I don't think it's bizarre at all. What's NOT being said is what I think is bizarre.
What's that? The fact that if this were a white cop with a Christian name and a black female who was shot the odds of the officer being charged with her death are almost nil?
How about the insufficiency of vetting for service?
Way to make this racial..... No one else did..... You win the prize!!!!
Way to go!!!!!!
This long to charge him? He shot across from the passenger side, in front of his partner and killed the woman outside the driver side window. What kind of panic causes a reaction like that? If I was this guy's partner, I would probably kick his ass for a stunt like that, even if he had not hit an innocent woman. the bullet had to travel right in front of his face, along withthe noise of the weapon discharge, what? A foot to two from his head? Seems like this guy just panicked, or soemthing worse....
Where are all the liberals cheering a cop going to jail for a shooting? Isn't this what they've been clamoring for after Ferguson, Baltimore, Minneapolis, Baton Rogue, etc...?
I would think it's getting really boring in the USA - kid killers, killer kids, cop killers, killer cops, and the beat goes on......
Unfortunately the "entertainment" never seems to stop.
Morning....We watch with great interest from across the Pacific...Not interested in witch hunts, or the racial excuses that are already coming out. Only reason he is being charged because he killed a white women or because he is a Muslim....All we want is the answer to the question..."Why???".....
He was anxious, he had priors and should have never been on patrol again. Trigger anxiety and now a woman who was scared is dead because of his "itchy finger"
I'm viewing it from about the same direction as you. Although I have no answer for your questions, at least the perp has the advantage if he is convicted and incarcerated, as he deserves, he still has earned his "ticket to heaven".
On the other hand, he may not be so much in danger as you think: