On Saturday Night, Justine Damond, was shot and killed by a Minneapolis police officer who were responding to a 911 call.
Here are the details I managed to gather from the early reports.
- Ms. Damond had approached the driver’s side door of the police car.
- She was shot through the door of the car.
- The officer that shot her was in the passenger seat of the car.
This struck me as odd. The officer that shot had to have shot past his partner, right over his lap. That’s not an easy angle to pull off.
The second report I read of the indecent shows I was right.
He is believed to have been sitting in the passenger seat of a police car when he shot across his partner killing Ms Damond, local media has reported.
This reinforced my belief that this was an accidental discharge. The officer either was getting his gun out or was trying to re-holster it when he fired.
But then more details emerged. The officer’s body cameras were not on.
The officer who shot was “inexperienced” with two years under his belt.
The inexperienced officer joined the Minneapolis Police Department a little over two yeas ago.
Lastly, and here is where things turn ugly. The officer who shot was named Mohamed Noor and was publicly celebrated for being one of nine Somali-American police officers in Minneapolis. This is the largest Somali community in America.
Minneapolis is also one of the most Liberal cities in America (ranked No. 6).
Here is what I believe. Noor was a massively unqualified affirmative action hire. Someone felt that the MPD needed some more Somali officers for public relations.
His lack of qualifications is evident in that fact that he was called “inexperienced” with two years of service. He was also riding with another officer. I don’t know how the MPD works, but you rarely see two officers in a patrol car together outside of training.
I believe that the body cams were off because the officers didn’t want to capture on video just how much of a walking fuck-up the mayor’s celebrated “golden boy” was in real life. Noor jumped the gun, literally, almost shot his partner, and killed woman because he never should have had a gun in the first place.
Maybe I am wrong, and a bit prejudiced. There are just too many coincidences here for me.
I have a feeling as this story gains more national attention, reports are going to come out from anonymous officers as to just how bad Noor was and how his passage through the police academy and field training was the result of PC politics and not any level of competency.
Or I could be wrong.
Where are the protest marches for this? Is one scheduled?
The guidelines say the cameras should be turned on prior to the use of force. There was no reason to anticipate a use of force here; it was a routine call: See the complainant who heard a suspicious noise. There was also no reason for anyone to have a gun out. A sober middle-aged woman in her jammies isn’t much of a threat, and if you think she is, you have no business being the police.
There’s more to this than meets the eye. We’ll see what happens.
I’m in the area of MPLS. Seeing some reports of multiple shots having been fired. Kinda hard to ‘accidentally’ discharge multiple rounds… over your partner’s lap, through a door. Can’t fathom any good reason for this to have happened with the little info that has been provided. I’m quite sure though, that had the skin tones / cultures been reversed, parts of downtown would be in flames by now.
Is Noor a US citizen???
Under Minnesota state law, U.S. citizenship is required to be a police officer. So Noor had to show proof of naturalization to be hired.
That’s the legal requirement, but since when has “that’s illegal” stopped the police from doing what they want?
Which is more likely, that a person who immigrated here as a little kid naturalized or acquired citizenship sometime during his life, or that the city of Minneapolis violated the law to hire this particular guy?
Minneapolis had a press conference late Tuesday night. The driver Harrity talked to the BCA Tuesday. The shooter Noor, may not talk to the BCA?
http://www.startribune.com/authorities-remain-silent-nearly-three-days-after-justine-damond-shooting/435251273/
http://www.fox9.com/news/268733571-story
The 911 call has been released, but none of the body cameras were running, and the dash cam was off too. This is a very good part of Minneapolis, full of upper middle class liberal (white) Minneapolitans. It is just north of the suburb of Edina, which used to be the richest city in Minnesota. That means these people have political power, are concerned, and will use their power to get what they want.
The more I hear, the more this really, really sounds like a flat out murder.
Noor didn’t shoot through the door. He shot through the open, lowered driver side window.
Too bad, maybe if he shot into the door, the bullet(s) would have been deflected or caught by the door materials. Or maybe, bullets might have been slowed enough to make them non-fatal? Anyone know if MPD buys bullet resistant armor for their vehicles?
Here is my imitation of the driver, Harrity, “Huh? What did you say? Speak up!”
Latest per KSTP TV News at 0430 Wednesday morning. Not an official press release.
Noor had his gun in his lap. They were afraid of an ambush in the alley (thank you Black Lives Matter). Like I said above, this is a very good part of town. It is not the ghetto. Supposedly, suddenly, Justine appeared out of nowhere, and pounded on top of their SUV. Noor was startled and shot the “threat.”
The radio dispatch call mentioned that the female complainant was in her back yard, so wouldn’t they be looking for her? The previous newscasts mentioned there were several lights in the alley, including streetlights in the alley to light up the alley, and it was “well lit.”
The above is from a newscast, not an official press conference or press release.
“Supposedly, suddenly, Justine appeared out of nowhere, and pounded on top of their SUV. Noor was startled and shot the “threat.””
Yeah, that’s it. This the ticket.
This happened at 11:30 at night. It’s likely that the woman was standing in her back yard or on her back porch, where she felt safe, but also where it’s dark. When she saw the squad come down the alley, she walked out and struck the roof. Since most alleys aren’t marked with address numbers, the officers may have been passing her by, and she ran up and hit the roof to get them to stop.
[…] About a year-and-a-half ago I covered the shooting of Justine Damond by Minneapolis police officer Mohammed Noor. […]