Minneapolis”•A US police officer who shot dead an Australian woman in 2017 was found guilty of murder Tuesday by a Minneapolis jury, ending a case that has shocked the Midwestern city and sparked outrage in her native country.
Mohamed Noor, 33, who was fired from the city’s police force, was convicted of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
The jury, which began deliberating on Monday after three weeks of testimony from dozens of witnesses, acquitted the former officer of the most serious charge of second-degree murder with intent to kill.
Noor was taken out of the courtroom in handcuffs and into custody, according to US media reports.
He testified that he shot Justine Damond, an Australian who had moved to the US, to protect his partner, because he had feared an ambush when responding to an emergency call she had made.
But prosecutors insisted that the shooting was unreasonable and contrary to police department training policy.
Noor targeted Damond from the passenger seat of the police cruiser he was in with his partner, Matthew Harrity.
The 40-year-old victim, a yoga instructor, had approached the cruiser after calling 911 twice to report a possible rape in the dark alley behind her home. No such assault was ever found to have occurred.
Defense attorney Peter Wold told jurors the former officer was heartbroken over the shooting.
Noor testified that he believed there was an imminent threat after he saw a cyclist stop near the police cruiser, heard a loud bang and saw Harrity’s “reaction to the person on the driver’s side raising her right arm.”
Noor added that when he reached from the cruiser’s passenger seat and shot Damond through the driver’s side window, it was because he thought his partner “would have been killed.”
Damond was wounded in the abdomen and died at the scene. Her last words were: “I’m dying,” according to authorities. AFP
Damond had moved to the Midwestern city to marry her American fiancee Don Damond. She had changed her name from her maiden name, Ruszczyk.
Her death caused outrage back home and her Australian family was in the courtroom for the trial.
At a press conference, Damond’s father, John Ruszczyk, said he believed Noor’s conviction was reached despite the “active resistance” of many police officers and institutions.
The shooting also enraged many of the victim’s neighbors, who mounted a campaign for police reforms. The city’s police chief at the time was forced to resign within days.
“I want to extend my sincere apologies to the family and friends of Justine Damond Ruszcyzk,” Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said in a statement after the verdict.
The chief called the incident “sad and tragic” and acknowledged that it had had an impact “around the world, most significantly in her home country of Australia.”
“I will ensure that the (department) learns from this case,” Arradondo said.
Don Damond, the victim’s fiance, said during a press conference that the case showed “an egregious failure” by the police.
“Nearly two years ago my fiancee, Justine Ruszczyk Damond, was shot dead in her pajamas outside our home without warning as she walked up to a police car which she had summoned,” he said.
He called for “a complete transformation of policing in Minneapolis and around the country.”
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said this was the first known murder conviction of an on-duty officer in Minnesota.
Police officers involved in controversial shootings are rarely sent to prison, because juries and judges are loath to second guess officers’ life-or-death decisions made within seconds.
US trials have mostly resulted in hung juries or acquittals, which at times have caused civil unrest in cities where racial tensions are already high.
Another Minnesota officer, Jeronimo Yanez, was fired from his job but acquitted after fatally shooting black motorist Philando Castile in 2016.
Grassroots group “Justice for Justine” founder Sarah Kuhnen said her organization lauded Noor’s conviction, but mentioned the names of several others killed by police in Minnesota and beyond in recent years, including Castile.
“While we are glad, so very glad for this verdict,” Kuhnen said, “We don’t for a second think that the system is fixed.” AFP