Justine Damond made two emergency calls in which said she could hear a “distressed” woman calling for help in an alley behind her house in Minneapolis.
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Summary: An Australian woman was shot by Minneapolis police after she called them for help.
She said she spoke to Ms Damond’s grief-stricken fiance on Thursday morning.
Pastor Celester Webb, whose church is attended by the family of Philando Castile, a black man brutally killed by police in Minnesota past year, said many African-Americans were watching Ms Damond’s case closely. He was one of only about 20 Somali police officers in Minnesota. “Sadly, her family and I have been provided with nearly no additional information from law enforcement regarding what happened after police arrived”, Damond said.
The friend added that Noor feel he has been “thrown under the bus” by his colleagues, adding: “His colleagues are accusing him of not showing proper police conduct on Saturday night”. Noor, sitting in the passenger seat, fired his gun at Ruszczyk through the driver’s side window.
Last year, 32-year-old Philando Castile was killed by an officer during a traffic stop in a nearby suburb after he told the officer he was armed.
She died at the scene of a gunshot wound to the abdomen, authorities said.
Harteau also said the body cameras, which were not on at the time of the shooting, should have been activated. “Having the information that is publicly-available right now recognising there’s an open BCA investigation”.
Damond, 40, was preparing to marry her fiancé when she was killed.
“It is inexplicable”, he said.
They’ll have to wait for answers, but for now, they want her body back home. “And our hearts go out to her family, and all of her friends and loved ones”.
Chauntyll Allen, an organizer with Black Lives Matter, told Fox News that Damond’s killing rises above the issue of race and shows that police violence has become an endemic problem. “Justine was a beacon to all of us”. She said the department is making changes to its policy on the cameras, rolled out citywide eight months ago, including looking at technology that would turn them on automatically.
Noor’s partner Matthew Harrity told BCA investigators that the officers were startled by a loud sound as Damond was approaching the driver’s side of their police cruiser. Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges said that while he is not obligated to speak, she wishes he would make a statement because he is the only one who can explain what happened.
About 200 people joined in on the 15-minute walk from the corner of 51st and Washburn Avenue South in the Fulton neighborhood to Beard’s Plaisance Park.
The investigation into the shooting, which has been declared a homicide, is ongoing.
Noor has not made any statements to investigators, Harteau said.
He did not give any details about the shooting, however. Most others involved white police officers and African American victims.
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“Usually people who call the police in their pyjamas are not ambushers, especially spiritual healers and pacifists”, Bennett said of Damond, who owned a meditation and life-coaching company.
