Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman says criminal charges are not warranted against either Officer Mark Ringgenberg or Officer Dustin Schwarze in the fatal shooting of Jamar Clark.
Before the announcement, County Attorney Mike Freeman detailed events leading up to Clark’s shooting. He says during the struggle, Officer Ringgenberg repeatedly told Officer Schwarze (SHWARTZ-ee) “he’s got my gun.” Freeman says Ringenberg told investigators he felt Clark’s whole hand on the gun and Schwarze dropped his handcuffs and took out his gun.
According to the investigation, Schwarze said he put the gun to the edge of Clark’s mouth and said, “Let go, or I’m going to shoot you.” Schwarze recalls Clark looking directly at him and saying, “I’m ready to die.”
Schwarze said the “only thing I could think of to do was to save our lives and everyone else in the immediate area, so I pulled the trigger.”