A Black Minneapolis man was fatally shot by police after a six-hour standoff, but the body camera footage from the incident did not show him brandishing a weapon or posing a threat to the cops.
Authorities reported that two police snipers shot Andrew Tekle Sundberg, 20, early on Thursday. According to his family, he was going through a mental health crisis.
Mayor Jacob Frey and acting Police Chief Amelia Huffman declined to comment on the officers' on-scene video, citing a state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigation. At a news conference, they only took a few questions from journalists.
Howie Padilla, a spokesman for the police, stated that the city has yet to identify the video "that offers the clearest vision" of what transpired and he requested anyone who may have further footage to come forward.
There has been intense pressure on the mayor and police to expedite the publication of tapes and other materials about police shootings.
Sundberg was killed shortly after George Floyd was killed by Officer Derek Chauvin in just over two years, and a few months after Amir Locke was killed by a Minneapolis SWAT team member just seconds after the team broke into an apartment on a no-knock search warrant.
Police officers can be heard saying "shots fired" and gunshots can be heard in the films, although it is unclear from the recordings whether Sundberg or the policemen fired the rounds.
Sundberg's parents had reportedly seen the recordings when Huffman visited with them.
Sundberg's parents "offer their heartfelt regrets to all of those impacted by Tekle's mental health problem," according to Jeff Storms, the family's attorney. He added that they also hoped any witnesses who may have video of the shooting would come forward.
The night of July 13, Sundberg's neighbor called 911 to report that he was firing a gun into her apartment, putting her and her 2- and 4-year-old sons in risk. Frey and Huffman highlighted the cops' actions in taking them to safety in one video taken by an officer in a stairway.
In the midst of an active shooter scenario, officers "rescued a mother and two children who were scared and vulnerable," according to Frey. "Demonstrated bravery under fire, a commitment to safeguarding the public, and a determination to use communication wherever possible," Huffman said of the police.
Sundberg's parents were called to the site while police made numerous attempts to get him to give himself up. Just minutes before he was shot at 4:18 a.m., officers can be heard on one video telling him that he was under arrest from an officer on the ground floor.
One of the officers added, "We don't want to injure you, we just want to go home."
Sundberg could be seen leaning in and out of his third-floor window on the footage taken from the ground, but it was unclear what he might have been holding, and neither was Sundberg being shot.
Sundberg was not seen in any of the videos from the snipers across the street, but one cop could be heard questioning, "Is that a cellphone?" before yelling, "Gun." Another officer appeared to shout "gun" as well. There were two gunfire heard. Another officer was seen firing the trigger on his firearm, it seemed.
According to search warrant affidavits unsealed on Friday, investigators seized a.38-caliber handgun with an extended magazine from a bed in Sundberg's apartment and live.45-caliber cartridges from a closet and a bowl in the living room.
The main factor in assessing whether the shooting was justified, according to John Baker, a professor of criminal justice studies at St. Cloud State University who teaches aspiring officers, was whether there was an immediate threat to police or bystanders at the very moment they fired.
A number of activists' suspicion of the Minneapolis Police Department and their belief that cops take Black lives too quickly while going to greater pains to apprehend white individuals alive were fuelled by the shooting of Sundberg, who was also known by his middle name of Tekle.
Black Lives Matter Minnesota leader Trahern Crews said he hoped there was a clearer video because the one released on Wednesday doesn't show whether Sundberg was carrying a gun when he was shot. Crews led a protest at the scene on Saturday.
We find it difficult to accept the police account. Although you can hear what happened and hear the shooting, you can't see what happened, according to Crews.
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