On a summer night in Minneapolis, 40-year-old Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a White female, made two 911 calls after hearing what she believed to be a woman in distress in the alley behind her home. A dual Australian-American citizen and yoga teacher, she was concerned there was an active sexual assault happening. The first call was logged at 11:27 p.m.
on July 15, 2017, and a second followed eight minutes later when she wanted to ensure police had the correct address.
Responding to the call were Minneapolis Police Officers Mohamed Noor and Matthew Harrity. They drove down the alley with their squad car's lights off and found no evidence of the reported assault. As they were preparing to leave, Damond, dressed in her pajamas, approached the driver's side of the police vehicle. What happened next transpired in a matter of moments. Officer Noor, from the passenger seat, fired his weapon across his partner, striking Damond once in the abdomen. Neither officer had their body cameras activated at the time of the shooting.
The aftermath of the shooting brought intense scrutiny and widespread media attention, both nationally and internationally. Mohamed Noor, a Somali-American officer with 21 months of experience on the force at the time, was identified as the shooter. He declined to speak with investigators about the incident. In March 2018, Noor was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter and subsequently resigned from the Minneapolis Police Department.
During his trial in April 2019, Noor testified that he heard a loud bang on the squad car, which made him fear for his and his partner's life. He claimed he saw a figure at his partner's window raising their arm and he made a split-second decision to fire his weapon to stop what he perceived as a threat. Prosecutors argued that there was no evidence to suggest Damond posed any threat and that Noor acted recklessly. The jury ultimately found Noor guilty of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, but acquitted him of the more serious charge of second-degree intentional murder.
In June 2019, Noor was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison. However, his legal battle was not over. In September 2021, the Minnesota Supreme Court overturned his third-degree murder conviction, stating that the charge did not fit the specifics of the case. As a result, his sentence was revised to 57 months for the second-degree manslaughter conviction. He was released from prison on parole in June 2022. In a separate civil lawsuit, the city of Minneapolis agreed to a $20 million settlement with Damond's family, a record amount for a police-related death in the city at the time. As part of the settlement, her family donated $2 million to a fund aimed at addressing gun violence.
