Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor has been charged with 3rd- degree murder, and 2nd degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Justine Damond. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman says there is no evidence that Officer Noor “encountered, appreciated, investigated or confirmed a threat that justified the decision to use deadly force.” Damond was shot last July after calling police to report a possible assault behind her south Minneapolis home. Freeman says in the moments after the shooting, Noor’s partner, officer Matthew Harrity, checked first to see if he himself had been shot. Then, Freeman says, “Harrity looked out his window and saw a woman, Ms. Damond Ruszczyk had put her hands on the wound on the left side of her abdomen and said ‘I’m dying or I’m dead'”.
Freeman says that even though he used a grand jury to help with the investigation, the decision to charge Noor was his and his alone and adds “I don’t have any bias against Minneapolis Police, we work with them, we need cops, but we need cops to be law-abiding, and in this case, based on the facts of the Noor-Damond case, clearly Officer Noor violated the rules and deserves to be charged.” Freeman also says the charging decision “would’ve been done a good deal quicker if we’d had the kind of cooperation from all the Minneapolis police offers that we had from the Chief himself.”Chief Medaria Arradondo today says he’s sorry for the loss of Justine Damond and takes responsibility for “the conduct of the men and women who wear [the] uniform and badge.”
Damond’s family said in a written statement the charges were “one step toward justice”, and said they were pleased Hennepin county attorney Mike Freeman had decided to bring charges. They said they hoped a strong case would be presented and Noor would be convicted. “No charges can bring our Justine back,” they said. “However, justice demands accountability for those responsible for recklessly killing the fellow citizens they are sworn to protect, and today’s actions reflect that.”
Officer Noor’s attorney, in a statement, says “the facts will show that Officer Noor acted as he has been trained and consistent with established departmental policy. Officer Noor should not have been charged with any crime.”
Noor makes his first court appearance tomorrow.