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After Minneapolis officer in police shooting is named, Somali community nervous

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    After Minneapolis officer in police shooting is named, Somali community nervous

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    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/07/18/after-media-identifies-officer-in-minneapolis-shooting-somali-community-braces-for-backlash/?utm_term=.3370d9d90992



    After Minneapolis officer in police shooting is named, Somali community braces for backlash


    By Katie Mettler July 18 at 7:39 AM
    Don Damond, right, fiance of Justine Damond, makes a statement to the media as his son Zach Damond, left, comforts him. (Craig Lassig/European Pressphoto Agency)
    When Mohamed Noor joined the Minneapolis police force and was assigned to patrol the city’s southwest corner, the Somali community there — the nation’s largest — threw a party for him to celebrate.


    He was the first Somali American officer to serve in Minneapolis’s fifth precinct and one of fewer than a dozen Somali American officers in the department. His presence on the squad brought Somali activists some pride and reassurance at a time of Islamophobia in America and nationwide racial tension stoked in part by shootings of black people by white police officers.


    Now that same Somali community is bracing for a backlash against Noor that has already begun.
    On Monday, multiple media outlets named Noor as the officer who fatally shot an unarmed Australian woman in the city’s popular Fulton neighborhood over the weekend, an incident that has grabbed global attention and thrust Minneapolis into yet another uproar over police violence.


    Officials have not publicly confirmed the officer’s name.


    Tom Plunkett, an attorney who said he to represent Noor, said in a statement that the officer “extends his condolences” to those mourning 40-year-old Justine Damond’s death and “takes their loss seriously.”


    “We would like to say more, and will in the future,” Plunkett said. “At this time, however, there are several investigations ongoing and Officer Noor wants to respect the privacy to the family and asks the same in return during this difficult period.”


    Although Plunkett did not respond to requests to explicitly confirm that Noor fired the shot that killed Damond, several Somali leaders in Minneapolis said in interviews with The Washington Post that they were aware of the officer’s involvement.


    “There is no question that he is the officer,” Somali activist Omar Jamal told The Post. “We knew this right after the shooting, but we didn’t want to release the name.”


    The Minneapolis Police Federation declined to comment and referred questions to Noor’s attorney. A spokesman for the Minneapolis Police Department directed inquiries to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the agency investigating the shooting, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday morning.


    What we know about the Minneapolis police shooting that killed a bride-to-be
    Australia native Justine Damond, 40, who was set to marry her fiance in August, was fatally shot by a police officer on Saturday, July 16. Few details have been revealed about the incident. Here's what we know. (Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post)
    The Hennepin County Medical Examiner announced Monday night that Damond — identified by her birth name, Justine Ruszczyk — died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen and ruled the death a homicide. She was set to marry her American fiance Don Damond next month and had already been using his last name.




    Witnesses at the scene Saturday night said that the officer who fired his gun appeared to be Somali, Jamal said, so he and others in the community began contacting all the Somalis in the department. They knew the shooting took place in the fifth precinct, where Noor is the only Somali officer.


    “We came to know that, ‘Oh gosh, that’s him,’ ” Jamal said. “Then the word spread fast.”


    [After Minneapolis police officer fatally shoots Australian woman, her relatives plead for answers]


    The report stoked fear among Somalis in the Twin Cities, who have worked for decades to become part of the city’s fabric. There are now Somalis on the police force, the city council and in the Minnesota House of Representatives. But the largely Muslim population of Somali Americans in the region still face Islamophobia and innuendo about terrorism.


    “They fear this will be just another event used to create animosity toward the Somali community,” Mohamud Noor, executive director at the Confederation of Somali Community in Minnesota, told The Post.




    Already, hateful posts criticizing Islam and sharia law are filling social media in response to the police shooting. Several far-right blogs featured sensational headlines that blamed the officer’s ethnicity for the deadly use of force.


    Other Somali officers in the police department are “nervous,” Jamal said.


    “They’re not talking at all,” he said. “You can feel the pressure, because you know, the difference now is ‘one of you guys did it.’ ”


    “The fact that the police involved in the shooting is Somali makes it a different matter,” he said.
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    Re: After Minneapolis officer in police shooting is named, Somali community nervous

    https://www.yahoo.com/gma/key-witnes...opstories.html


    Key witness identified in Minneapolis officer-involved shooting that killed bride-to-be
    MORGAN WINSOR,Good Morning America 55 minutes ago
    Minneapolis police chief resigns in fallout from bride-to-be's death at the hands of police
    Minnesota officials have identified and located a key witness to the officer-involved shooting that killed an Australian bride-to-be in Minneapolis last weekend.


    The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension announced in a press release Friday night that its agents interviewed the witness, who was seen riding a bike in the area immediately before the shooting and stopped at the scene to watch as two Minneapolis police officers provided medical assistance to Justine Ruszczyk.


    "The individual has been cooperative and provided an interview today," the agency said in the press release, without naming the individual.


    The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is conducting the investigation into the incident at the request of the Minneapolis Police Department, is urging anyone who may have also witnessed the shooting to contact them at 651-793-7000.


    Ruszczyk, a 40-year-old Australian native, called 911 on the night of July 15 to report what she believed was a sexual assault occurring near her home in Minneapolis' Fulton neighborhood. Two officers from the Minneapolis Police Department, identified by authorities as Matthew Harrity and Mohamed Noor, responded to Ruszczyk's call.


    Harrity was driving the squad car, while Noor was in the passenger seat, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. As they neared Ruszczyk's home, Harrity indicated that he was startled by a loud sound near the car, after which Ruszczyk immediately approached the driver's side, authorities said.


    Noor then fired his weapon, striking Ruszczyk through the driver's side window, which was open. The officers provided medical assistance to Ruszczyk until medics arrived, but she was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.


    The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office has confirmed that Ruszczyk died of a single gunshot wound to her abdomen.


    Both officers have been placed on standard paid administrative leave pending the investigation. Ruszczyk's death has been ruled a homicide.


    The Minneapolis Police Department has launched an internal affairs review of the officers' use of force.


    Protesters shout down Minneapolis mayor in wake of fatal shooting of bride-to-be


    Attorney for family of woman killed by police calls for justice


    Minneapolis police release 911 transcript in fatal shooting of bride-to-be from Australia


    Harrity's attorney, Fred Bruno, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that it was "certainly reasonable" for the police officers to assume they could be the target of an ambush.


    Noor has not provided any statements regarding the incident and has declined to be interviewed by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the agency said. Noor's attorney has not provided an update on when, if ever, an interview would be possible. The agency said it cannot by law compel the officer to give a testimony.


    On Friday, the city's police chief, Janeé Harteau, resigned after Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges said she “lost confidence in the chief’s ability to lead.” Hodges also announced she has nominated Assistant Chief Medaria "Rondo" Arradondo to lead the police department.


    Ruszczyk, who went by her fiancé's last name, Damond, was a yoga instructor, a personal health and life coach and a "meditation teacher, embracing and teaching the neuro-scientific benefits of meditation," according to her personal website.


    Ruszczyk's family -- most of whom are located in her native country of Australia -- said they have been in close touch with U.S. and Australian officials in reference to the ongoing investigation of her death.


    "We are in constant contact with the Australian government, and representatives of the U.S. government and Minnesota state authorities," the family said in a statement Thursday. "We want to see the investigation come to a conclusion, as soon as possible, so we have some resolution to the tragedy."


    Robert Bennett, the attorney representing both Ruszczyk's fiancé and her family, told ABC News on Friday that they want "justice in its largest sense."


    "I think Justine is the last person you’d expect to be killed by police," said Bennett, who represented the family of Philando Castile, a black man who was fatally shot by Minnesota police in July 2016.


    "Of the cases that I’ve been involved in over the years she doesn’t fit any of the patterns," Bennett added. "Her life’s intersection with the police is totally bizarre."
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