More details have emerged about a mysterious police-involved shooting that killed a 40-year-old Australian native who was set to marry her American fiancé next month.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Justine Damond called 911 from her Minneapolis home to report a disturbance in the alley behind the house on Saturday night. When two officers arrived in a cruiser, she walked out of her home in her pajamas and began speaking to the officers at the driver’s side door. The officer sitting in the passenger-side seat fired at the woman for reasons not yet known, killing her.
According to an updated report in the Star Tribune, authorities have confirmed that Damond was unarmed at the time of the shooting, which was not recorded. The officers did not have their bodycams turned on, and dashcam video did not capture the incident.
The Star Tribune reports that the officer who shot Damond is Mohamed Noor, a 31-year-old who joined the Minneapolis Police Department in 2015. He previously worked in property management, and was the first Somali-American officer to join his precinct.
Minneapolis police officer who shot, killed woman is identified as Mohamed Noor https://t.co/pHpkfwAG2x pic.twitter.com/UBAkehNolO
— Star Tribune (@StarTribune) July 17, 2017
According to a pending lawsuit obtained by the Star Tribune, Noor was accused of misconduct in May of this year when he and two other officers came to a woman’s home and forcibly brought her to a hospital, reportedly believing that she was suffering from a mental health crisis. The woman alleged that Noor “grabbed her right wrist and upper arm,” and sued all three officers for false imprisonment and assault and battery. The case is still pending.
Minneapolis Police Chief Janeé Harteau issued a statement Monday, indicating the police department is taking the incident very seriously.
I have many of the same questions and it is why we immediately asked for an external and independent investigation into the officer-involved shooting death,” Hareau said in the statement.
“I also want to assure you that I understand why so many people have so many questions at this point. I’ve asked for the investigation to be expedited to provide transparency and to answer as many questions as quickly as we can.”
Feature photo: Facebook
