Tag Archives: Shooting

Minneapolis orders stricter police body-camera rules after fatal shooting

Justine Damond, also known as Justine Ruszczyk, from Sydney, is seen in this 2015 photo released by Stephen Govel Photography in New York, U.S., on July 17, 2017. Stephen Govel/Stephen Govel Photography/Handout via REUTERS

By Chris Kenning

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Minneapolis officials set stricter police body camera rules on Wednesday, more than a week after officers failed to activate cameras during the fatal police shooting of an Australian woman.

Mayor Betsy Hodges and acting Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said the new policy will require officers to turn on cameras anytime they are dispatched to a call or undertake any self-initiated activity. The new policy takes effect on Saturday.

“What good is a camera if it is not being used when it may be needed the most?” said Arradondo, who acknowledged that some officers were not using the cameras frequently enough.

Justine Damond was shot shortly before midnight on July 15 by an officer responding to an emergency call she had placed about a possible assault in her residential neighborhood. The shooting sparked outrage in Australia and Minnesota.

Authorities said officer Mohamed Noor shot the 40-year-old woman through the window as she approached his patrol car. Neither his nor his partner’s body camera were on, nor was dashboard camera activated.

The incident, still under investigation, led Hodges to request the resignation of the city’s police chief.

Minneapolis rolled out cameras late last year with use guidelines calling for officers to activate them “when safe” in a variety of situations including traffic stops, emergency responses, vehicle pursuits, searches and before any use of force.

Arradondo said supervisors were being trained to audit the use of the cameras.

“Many of our officers are using our cameras a lot,” he said. But some officers, he said, are failing to use them enough.

The new policy will still include some exceptions, but will reduce the amount of discretion officers have in using them, officials said.

The technology has been adopted by police departments across the country, increasing sharply after the 2014 police shooting of a teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked demonstrations over police treatment of minorities.

At least 14 people were killed in the United States by officers wearing body cams that were either not turned on or inoperative since 2014, the American Civil Liberties Union said in December. Even so, that was a tiny fraction of police-involved shootings.

Jim Pasco, a senior adviser with the Fraternal Order of Police, said recently that noncompliance among police was not widespread nationally. A Pew Research Center report earlier this year found 66 percent of police supported the use of body cameras.

(Reporting by Chris Kenning; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

Warrant in Minnesota police shooting says woman slapped squad car

FILE PHOTO: Justine Damond, also known as Justine Ruszczyk, from Sydney, is seen in this 2015 photo released by Stephen Govel Photography in New York, U.S., on July 17, 2017. Stephen Govel/Stephen Govel Photography/Handout via REUTERS

By Chris Kenning

(Reuters) – A woman slapped the back of police squad car just before the fatal police shooting of an unarmed Australian woman in Minneapolis, according to newly released court documents.

The detail came in an application for a search warrant, made public Monday in court documents, from state investigators examining what led to the July 15 shooting of Sydney native Justine Damond, 40.

The fatal incident outraged the public in Australia and Minnesota, and led to the resignation of Minneapolis’ police chief. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called the shooting “shocking” and “inexplicable.”

“Upon police arrival, a female ‘slaps’ the back of the patrol squad. After that, it is unknown to BCA agents what exactly happened, but the female became deceased in the alley,” the court document reads. It does not say whether the woman who slapped the car was Damond.

Damond family attorney Robert Bennett could not be reached to comment on Tuesday. Previously, Bennett had said: “Usually people who call the police in their pajamas are not ambushers.”

One responding officer, Matthew Harrity, told investigators he was startled by a loud sound near the patrol car shortly before his partner, Mohamed Noor, fired through the open driver’s-side window, striking Damond.

Damond, who had made Minneapolis her home and was engaged to be married, had called police about a possible sexual assault in her neighborhood just before midnight. A cellphone was found near her body, according to the court documents.

Last week, Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau resigned at the request of Mayor Betsy Hodges, who lost confidence in the chief after the shooting.

Over the weekend, metal street signs mocking the police appeared in the city, reading “Warning: Twin Cities Police Easily Startled,” according to KARE-TV.

Noor’s lawyer, Tom Plunkett, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Noor has refused to be interviewed by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is investigating the shooting. Plunkett previously released a statement in which Noor expressed condolences to the Damond family, but declined to discuss the shooting.

Harrity’s attorney, Fred Bruno, could not be reached for comment. Bruno previously told the Star Tribune it was “certainly reasonable” for the officers to fear they could be the target of a possible ambush.

Police also on Monday released the officers’ partly redacted personnel files, which include records of employment and completed training, including weapons training. However, the files reveal little about job performance.

(Reporting by Chris Kenning; Editing by David Gregorio)

Jordanians protest against Israel at funeral of shot teenager

People attend the funeral of Mohammad Jawawdah in Amman, Jordan July 25, 2017. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi

AMMAN (Reuters) – Several thousand Jordanians urged their government on Tuesday to close the Israeli Embassy in Amman and scrap an unpopular peace treaty during the funeral of a young Jordanian shot dead by an Israeli security guard in the embassy.

Dozens of demonstrators chanted “No to an Israeli Embassy or ambassador on Jordanian land!”, and called for a jihad – or holy war – as they carried the coffin of Mohammad Jawawdah, 16, to his burial place in a cemetery in the capital.

Jordanian police said on Monday that Jawawdah, who worked in a furniture firm, had got into a brawl with the Israeli security guard after entering the fortress-like compound of the embassy on Sunday to deliver an order.

They said the Israeli security guard had fired on Jawawdah after the young man attacked him, but did not confirm Israel’s account that he had used a screwdriver to stab the guard in what Israeli officials described as a “terrorist attack”.

Israel said the security officer had acted in self-defense when he shot Jawawdah while his father said the young teenager had no militant links.

The staff of Israel’s Embassy in Jordan, including the security guard involved in the shooting incident, returned to Israel from Amman on Monday.

Responding to public anger that the security guard was able to leave Jordan, Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said the Israeli had been protected by diplomatic immunity, but he vowed to “get justice” for the victims of what he called a “criminal attack”.

“The government had insisted that the person who committed the crime should not leave”, Safadi said, adding that the Israeli security guard left the country only after the authorities got his testimony to pursue a legal case against him.

“The government acted in a way to ensure the rights of Jordanian citizens,” Safadi said denying any secret deal that allowed his departure.

The main political opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood, blasted the authorities for handing over the security guard in what it said was an affront to national sovereignty.

“The Jordanian people were shocked by the death of two Jordanians in cold blood and instead of the government doing its duty toward its citizens, we were appalled by its protection of the killer and returning him without punishment,” the mainstream Islamist group said in a statement

“CLOSE COOPERATION”

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked U.S. President Donald Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner for helping to bring the embassy staff home as well as Jordan’s King Abdullah “for our close cooperation”.

Israeli media showed a smiling Netanyahu embracing the security guard after meeting him on Tuesday. He said his government had a “commitment to get you out, that was never a question”.

“You represent the state of Israel and Israel doesn’t forget that for a moment”, Netanyahu added.

Jordan’s peace accord with Israel, the second to be concluded with Israel by an Arab country after Egypt, is unpopular with many Jordanians, many of whom are of Palestinian origin.

Israeli-Jordanian tensions have escalated since Israel installed metal detectors at entry points to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City after two police guards were shot dead by gunmen there on July 14.

The kingdom has seen an outpouring of public anger against Israel in recent days over the Al-Aqsa situation, with thousands of Jordanians demonstrating last Friday against Israel in protests in Amman and in cities and refugee camps across Jordan.

Israel removed the metal detectors on Tuesday in favor of CCTV cameras, hoping to calm days of bloodshed, but Palestinians said the modified security measures were still unacceptable.

(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; editing by Gareth Jones and G Crosse)

Israel removes Jerusalem metal detectors, Palestinians reject new measures

Israeli security forces remove metal detectors which were recently installed at an entrance to the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City July 25, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

By Ori Lewis

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel removed metal detectors from entrances to the Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City on Tuesday in favour of CCTV cameras, hoping to calm days of bloodshed, but Palestinians said the modified security measures were still unacceptable.

Israel installed the detectors at entry points to Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem after two police guards were fatally shot on July 14, setting off the bloodiest clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in years.

The spike in tensions and the deaths of three Israelis and four Palestinians in violence on Friday and Saturday raised international alarm and prompted a session of the United Nations Security Council to consider ways of defusing the crisis.

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and the senior Muslim cleric who oversees Al-Aqsa compound both turned down the new Israeli measures and demanded all of them be removed.

“We reject all obstacles that hinder freedom of worship and we demand the return to the situation where things stood before July 14,” Hamdallah told his cabinet in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The Waqf, the religious body that runs the Islamic sites in the Al-Aqsa compound, said worshippers would continue to stay away from the elevated, marble-and-stone plaza and pray in the streets outside.

A Waqf spokesman said it was awaiting a decision of a technical committee but was demanding the situation revert to the way it was before July 14, when the metal detectors were installed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet of senior ministers voted to remove the metal detector gates early on Tuesday after a meeting lasting several hours.

David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said while visiting Israel’s parliament that Washington had talks with Israel and Jordan to resolve the crisis.

“(There was) a lot of hard work behind the scenes, discussions by senior officials in the United States, and of course, with the prime minister and with the king of Jordan, (and) we were able to defuse the situation very quickly that obviously, under other circumstances, could have not ended as successfully,” Friedman said.

NEW CCTV CAMERAS

A statement issued after the security cabinet meeting said it had decided to heed a recommendation of Israeli security bodies and replace the detectors with “smart checking” devices.

In the pre-dawn hours, municipal workers began work in some of the narrow stone-paved streets around the Aqsa compound to install overhead metal beams that will hold closed-circuit TV cameras. Israeli media said there were plans to invest in advanced camera systems.

The cabinet statement added that it had allocated up to 100 million shekels ($28 million) for the equipment and for additional policing over the next six months.

CCTV images indicated that the two Israeli police officers on guard duty were shot dead by three Israeli Arabs who had concealed weapons inside the Aqsa compound, Islam’s third most sacred site.

The dispute, like many in the Holy Land, is about much more than security devices, taking in issues of sovereignty, religious freedom, occupation and Palestinian nationalism.

The walled Old City is part of East Jerusalem that Israel captured from Jordan in a 1967 war and later annexed, declaring the city its “eternal indivisible capital” in a move not recognised internationally. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem for the capital of a future state they are seeking.

The decision to remove the metal detector gates was an about-turn after the rightist Netanyahu, wary of being seen to capitulate to Palestinian pressure, pledged on Sunday that the devices would stay put.

But on top of the outbreak of violence mainly in the Jerusalem area, a move on Friday by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to suspend security coordination , plus international criticism, cranked up pressure on Israel.

Netanyahu was further hampered by a fatal shooting at the Israeli Embassy in Jordan on Sunday when an Israeli security guard was attacked and shot dead two Jordanians.

Jordan is the custodian of Jerusalem’s Muslim holy sites, which Jews revere as the vestige of their two ancient temples. Jordan’s King Abdullah has called on Israel to return to the pre-July 14 status quo and lift all unilateral measures taken since the attack on the policemen.

Jews and anyone else visiting the Western Wall – the holiest site where Jews are permitted to pray – at the foot of the Aqsa compound must pass through airport-style security screening, including metal detectors.

(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta, and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; writing by Ori Lewis; editing by Mark Heinrich)

Minneapolis police chief resigns after Australian woman’s shooting

FILE PHOTO: Minneapolis Chief of Police Janee Harteau takes part in a round table discussion on ways to reduce gun violence during a visit to the Minneapolis Police Department Special Operations Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. on February 4, 2013. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

By Eric M. Johnson

(Reuters) – Minneapolis police chief Janee Harteau resigned on Friday at the request of the city’s mayor, who said that she and the community had lost confidence in Harteau following the fatal police shooting of an unarmed Australian woman.

The death of Sydney native Justine Damond, 40, from a single gunshot wound to the abdomen fired through the open window of a police patrol car, has outraged her family members and the Australian public. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has called it “shocking” and “inexplicable.”

Mayor Betsy Hodges said in a written statement that she and Harteau agreed on Friday that Harteau would step aside.

“I’ve lost confidence in the Chief’s ability to lead us further – and from the many conservations I’ve had with people around our city, especially this week, it is clear that she has lost the confidence of the people of Minneapolis as well,” Hodges said in the statement.

A press conference Hodges called to discuss the personnel change was interrupted by a group of protesters calling for her to resign, a witness video posted on YouTube showed.

“We don’t want you as our mayor of Minneapolis anymore,” a male protester in the video yelled as Hodges nodded slowly and tried repeatedly to resume her remarks but was drowned out.

“Your leadership has been very ineffective. Your police department has terrorized us enough,” he said.

Damond, who was living in Minneapolis and engaged to be married, had called police about a possible sexual assault in her neighborhood just before midnight on Saturday. She was shot as she approached the driver’s side of Mohamed Noor’s and Matthew Harrity’s patrol car.

Harteau’s resignation came a day after she told reporters during her first news conference following Damond’s death that the shooting violated department training and procedures and that the victim “didn’t have to die.”

“Last Saturday’s tragedy, as well as some other recent incidents, have caused me to engage in deep reflection,” she said in a statement. “Despite the MPD’s many accomplishments under my leadership over these years and my love for the city, I have to put the communities we serve first.”

According to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Harrity told investigators that Damond approached the squad car immediately after he was startled by a loud noise and that Noor, who was in the passenger seat, fired his weapon through the open driver’s-side window, striking Damond.

Noor has refused to be interviewed by the agency, which is conducting the investigation.

The police department said on Friday that bureau investigators had interviewed a person who was bicycling in the area immediately before the shooting and watched as the officers provided medical assistance to Damond. No further details were provided.

Hodges said Assistant Chief Medaria Arradondo would become police chief, and the department’s website on Friday evening had been updated to reflect it.

Harteau, a 30-year veteran of the department, was the first woman to lead it and is also openly gay. She was criticized for the department’s handling of the fatal 2015 shooting of 24-year-old black man Jamar Clark, who was unarmed.

The shooting of Clark touched off protests in Minneapolis at a time of fierce national debate over the use of excessive force by police, especially against black people.

Hundreds of people also took to the streets of Minneapolis to protest Damond’s shooting.

(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Leslie Adler & Shri Navaratnam)

Australian woman ‘didn’t have to die’: Minneapolis police chief

Justine Damond, also known as Justine Ruszczyk, from Sydney, is seen in this 2015 photo released by Stephen Govel Photography in New York, U.S., on July 17, 2017. Stephen Govel/Stephen Govel Photography/Handout via REUTERS

By Todd Melby

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) – The Minneapolis police chief said on Thursday the fatal shooting of an unarmed Australian woman by a junior police officer violated department training and procedures, and that the victim “didn’t have to die.”

The death of Justine Damond, 40, from a single gunshot wound to the abdomen fired through an open window of a police patrol car, has outraged her relatives and the public in Australia. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called it “shocking” and “inexplicable.”

“Justine didn’t have to die,” Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau said in her first news conference about the shooting.

Harteau said she apologized to Damond’s fiance for the loss of life, adding that the action taken by Officer Mohamed Noor, who fired the fatal shot, reflected “one individual’s actions.”

She said the body cameras of the two officers on the scene should have been activated. There is no known video footage of the shooting.

Based on the available information, Harteau said: “The actions in question go against who we are as a department, how we train, and the expectations we have for our officers.”

Damond had called police about a possible sexual assault in her neighborhood just before midnight on Saturday.

Earlier on Thursday, an attorney who represented another police shooting victim in Minnesota said Damond’s family had hired him.

The lawyer, Bob Bennett, reached a nearly $3 million settlement in June for the family of black motorist Philando Castile from the St. Paul, Minnesota, suburb of St. Anthony. Castile was shot and killed in July 2016 during a traffic stop.

The officer who shot Castile was acquitted in a manslaughter trial in June.

“Usually people who call the police in their pajamas are not ambushers, especially spiritual healers and pacifists,” Bennett said of Damond, who owned a meditation and life-coaching company.

“You shouldn’t shoot unarmed people who call the cops,” Bennett said in a telephone interview.

He added that the family would wait until officials complete their investigation before deciding whether to file a civil lawsuit.

Bennett said Damond’s body was still at the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Damond’s family told the Australian Associated Press it wished to bring her body back to Australia for burial. She is from Sydney.

“All we want to do is bring Justine home to Australia to farewell her in her hometown among family and friends,” her family said, according to AAP.

Noor, a Somali-American seen as a role model in the Somali community in Minneapolis, has refused to be interviewed by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is investigating the shooting. His attorney released a statement in which Noor expressed condolences to the Damond family, but declined to discuss the shooting.

Harteau told reporters she would prefer Noor speak about the incident. “There are questions that need to be answered and he is the only one who has those answers,” she said.

(Reporting by Todd Melby; Additional reporting and writing by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle, and Jane Wardell in Sydney; Editing by Diane Craft and Peter Cooney)

Family of Australian woman killed by Minneapolis police hires lawyer -media

Justine Damond, also known as Justine Ruszczyk, from Sydney, is seen in this 2015 photo released by Stephen Govel Photography in New York, U.S., on July 17, 2017. Stephen Govel/Stephen Govel Photography/Handout via REUTERS

By Todd Melby

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) – The family of the Australian woman fatally shot by a Minneapolis police officer has hired an attorney who represented another police shooting victim in the state, local media reported on Thursday.

Justine Damond’s family hired Bob Bennett, a lawyer who achieved a nearly $3 million settlement for the family of Philando Castile from the St. Paul, Minnesota, suburb of St. Anthony, according to WCCO-TV.

Bennett could not be reached for comment.

Damond’s death from a single gunshot has sparked outrage among family members and the public in both countries. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called it “shocking” and “inexplicable.”

Damond, 40, died of a single gunshot wound to the abdomen, fired through an open window of the patrol car, after two police officers responded to a call she made of a possible assault in her neighborhood, said the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is investigating the incident.

Minneapolis Police Officer Mohamed Noor, who fired the shot that killed Damond, has refused to be interviewed by the agency. His attorney released a statement in which Noor expressed condolences to the Damond family, but declined to discuss the incident.

Bennett, interviewed by the TV station, criticized the Minneapolis police.

“She obviously was not armed,” Bennett said to the television station of Damond. “She was not a threat to anyone, nor could she have reasonably been perceived to be.”

Bennett represented the family of Castile, a black motorist who was killed during a 2016 traffic stop. The officer who shot Castile was acquitted in a manslaughter trial in June.

Damond’s death, the third at the hands of a Minnesota police officer in less than two years, also prompted comments by Michele Bachmann, a former Republican presidential candidate and U.S. representative from Minnesota.

Bachmann, speaking at a Republican hog roast in Waconia, Minnesota, on Wednesday, called Noor an “affirmative-action hire by the hijab-wearing mayor of Minneapolis,” the Star Tribune reported. Noor is Somali-American.

However, Noor’s ethnicity is irrelevant, said Abdirizak Bihi, director of the Somali Education and Social Advocacy Center in Minneapolis. “This is racism.

“It’s shifting responsibility to a small, marginalized community rather than the city being responsible,” Bihi added.

Damond’s death remains under investigation. There is no known video footage of the shooting. Both Noor and his partner had their body cameras turned off, investigators reported.

(Reporting by Todd Melby; Editing by David Gregorio)

Aurora, Colorado marks five-year anniversary of theater massacre

Lt. Jad Lanigan of the Aurora police department looks over crosses for those killed in the Aurora theater shooting, at a vigil on the 5-year anniversary of the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado July 20, 2017. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

By Keith Coffman

AURORA, Col. (Reuters) – A somber crowd marked the fifth anniversary early on Thursday of a shooting rampage at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado that left 12 people dead and 70 injured.

About 100 family and community members and friends gathered outside Aurora’s city hall to remember the victims and first responders with a solemn candlelight vigil and procession. Many wept softly as they released white balloons into the night sky or wrote tributes on small wooden crosses.

“The thing I see after five years is the resilience of this community,” said Aurora Police Department’s Jad Lanigan, who was the incident commander at the scene of the July 20, 2012 shooting. “In Colorado we’ve had our fair share of tragedies but we always bounce back.”

Some 400 exuberant moviegoers had packed into the Century 16 movie theater in the Denver suburb for a midnight screening of Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises” that quickly turned to horror when a gunman opened fire on the crowd.

Twelve moviegoers were killed and 70 others either wounded by gunfire or injured fleeing the theater.

The 7/20 Memorial Foundation, a group of survivors, victims and their families, sponsored Thursday’s event. The organization is raising funds to build a permanent memorial to the tragedy.

“We are part of a family, we never have to say anything about it. It’s just there,” said Jansen Young, whose boyfriend Jonathan Bunk was killed protecting her during the shooting.

A moment of silence was observed at 12:38 a.m., the time at which James Holmes sprayed the crowded theater with bullets. He later surrendered to police in the theater parking lot.

The then-24-year-old California native pleaded not guilty of murder charges by reason of insanity in April 2015. A jury convicted him on all counts and he is currently serving his multiple life sentences at an undisclosed prison.

George Brauchler, the district attorney who prosecuted Holmes, said in an interview before the event that his thoughts are often with the victims and their families.

Brauchler also said the police officers who responded to the theater saved many lives when they grabbed mortally wounded victims and turned their patrol cars into makeshift ambulances.

“I still see those guys and they are changed forever — much like Aurora itself,” he said.

(Reporting by Keith Coffman, additional reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Minnesota mystery: Why were cameras off during police shooting?

Don Damond is comforted by his son Zach Damond as he speaks to the media about his fiance, Justine Damond who was fatally shot by Minneapolis police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. REUTERS/Adam Bettcher

By Chris Kenning

(Reuters) – Amid public outrage over the fatal shooting of an Australian woman by Minneapolis police, the most persistent question was why officers did not turn on body cameras that could have captured what happened.

Experts on police procedure said the most common reasons for failure to turn on cameras nationally were officers’ forgetting or getting caught by surprise, not trying to hide something. The American Civil Liberties Union said the case showed a need for better compliance and training.

Justine Damond, who was originally from Sydney, was shot around midnight on Saturday by an officer responding to an emergency call she had placed about a possible assault behind her house in a quiet residential neighborhood.

Authorities said the officer shot the 40-year-old woman through the window as she approached his patrol car. Neither the officer’s body camera nor a dashboard camera were turned on, depriving authorities of potential evidence.

“There’s a knee jerk assumption that something nefarious is occurring” when cameras are not turned on, said spokesman Steve Tuttle of Axon Enterprise Inc, a leading maker of body cameras formerly called Taser International and the manufacturer of the equipment used in Minneapolis.

Malfunctions are rare, but when police are facing lethal danger, an officer is “not going to call time out” to turn on the camera, he said.

Officers currently must press a button to enable the cameras to record video and audio, and Axon will soon release a sensor that will trigger cameras to turn on when a gun is taken from its holster, he said.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which reviews shootings involving the police in Minneapolis, is seeking any civilian video of the incident. It said the officer who shot Damond, who has been identified Mohamed Noor, and the officer in the patrol car with him, Matthew Harrity, have been placed on administrative leave.

Police have declined comment on questions about the cameras, pending an investigation. The lack of video footage has led the city’s mayor to call for a probe, while the American Civil Liberties Union suggested the police violated policy by failing to switch on the cameras.

Advocates said that when used, cameras protect both officers and the public and in some cases have reduced use of force and complaints against police.

“They should be on, every time,” said Steve Soboroff, a member of the Los Angeles Police Commission. Rigorous training and accountability is needed to ensure compliance, especially when police officers are under pressure.

USE CAMERAS ‘WHEN SAFE,’ GUIDELINES SAY

The technology has been adopted by police departments across the country since 2014 after a police shooting of a Missouri teenager sparked nationwide demonstrations over police treatment of minorities. Video evidence might have clarified whether the officer involved in that incident was justified in the shooting.

Minneapolis rolled out cameras late last year, and the department adopted guidelines calling for officers to activate them “when safe” in a variety of situations including traffic stops, emergency responses, vehicle pursuits, searches and before any use of force or contact with citizens.

There is only spotty national evidence available about how frequently police fail to turn on cameras. An Arizona State University study in 2014 found fewer than half of police incidents in Phoenix were recorded.

At least 14 people were killed by officers wearing body cams that were either not turned on or inoperative since 2014, the ACLU said in December. Even so, that was a tiny fraction of police-involved shootings.

Jim Pasco, a senior adviser with the Fraternal Order of Police, said non-compliance among police is not widespread, and a Pew Research Center report earlier this year found 66 percent of police supported the use of body cameras.

ACLU analyst Jay Stanley pointed to a KSTP-TV report based on Minneapolis police data showing officers on average uploaded no more than 6.1 hours of camera footage in March.

The department on Tuesday said the data was part of a study under way and that no conclusions had been reached.

Despite legitimate circumstances when police cannot turn on cameras, the Minneapolis shooting illustrates the need to boost training and compliance.

“Training is critical,” said Samuel Walker, a professor emeritus of criminal justice at the University of Omaha. “This is a relatively new experiment, and there is a learning curve.”

(Reporting by Chris Kenning in Chicago,; additional reporting by Eric Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Frank McGurty and Cynthia Osterman)

Australian government demands answers on Minneapolis police shooting

Justine Damond, also known as Justine Ruszczyk, from Sydney, is seen in this 2015 photo released by Stephen Govel Photography in New York, U.S., on July 17, 2017. Courtesy Stephen Govel/Stephen Govel Photography/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called the fatal shooting of an Australian woman by a Minneapolis police officer over the weekend “shocking” and “inexplicable” and said his diplomats were seeking answers from U.S. authorities.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on Tuesday confirmed details of the shooting of Sydney native Justine Damond that have been reported in media accounts and also confirmed the identities of the two police officers involved in the incident.

Damond died of a single gunshot wound to the abdomen, fired through an open window of the patrol car, after two police officers responded to a call she made of a possible assault in her neighborhood, the agency said.

Turnbull said in a television interview on Wednesday morning in Australia (Tuesday evening in the United States) that he and the Australian consul-general in Chicago were seeking answers.

“How can a woman out in the street in her pajamas seeking assistance be shot like that?” the prime minister said in the interview with Nine Network. “It is a shocking killing, and yes, we are demanding answers on behalf of her family.”

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which reviews shootings involving Minneapolis police, was seeking civilian video of the incident.

The incident unfolded as Officers Mohamed Noor and Matthew Harrity were driving through an alley near where the shooting occurred, searching for a suspect, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said.

At one point, Harrity told investigators, he was startled by a loud sound near the patrol car. Immediately afterward, Damond approached the driver’s side of the squad car and Noor, who was in the passenger seat, fired his weapon through the open driver’s-side window, striking Noor, the agency said.

The agency said Noor, with the police department for 21 months, and Harrity, a one-year veteran, have been placed on administrative leave.

State investigators said agents interviewed Harrity on Tuesday. They said Noor has declined to be interviewed, adding that Noor’s attorney did not provide information on when or if the officer would be available for questioning.

Noor’s lawyer, Tom Plunkett, did not respond to a request for comment.

In a statement released earlier on Tuesday, Plunkett said that Noor extends his condolences to Damond’s family.

Damond’s family joined with friends and others in a silent dawn vigil on Sydney’s Freshwater Beach, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. A didgeridoo was played and a single rose thrown into the ocean.

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges and the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota have questioned why the officers did not have their body cameras and vehicle dashboard camera turned on at the time of the incident.

Keith Ellison, a Democratic member of Congress whose district includes Minneapolis, said Damond’s death stemmed from a “systemic problem.”

“We need to confront the reality of so many unarmed people killed by the same officers who swear an oath to protect us,” he said in a statement on Tuesday. “Justine’s death shows no one should assume ‘officer-involved shootings’ only happen in a certain part of town or to certain kinds of people.”

Damond, who was also known as Justine Ruszczyk, had taken the name of her fiance, Don Damond, ahead of their wedding. They were due to be married in August, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper. She owned a meditation and life-coaching company, according to her personal website.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee, Jonathan Allen in New York, Jamie Freed in Sydney, and Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Leslie Adler, Toni Reinhold)