Woman shot dead after calling police to report disturbance in alley

Warrigal

Warrigal

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Location
Sydney, Australia
Not much information to go on yet but this is a very disturbing occurrence.

Australian woman Justine Damond shot dead by police in Minneapolis

Updated about an hour ago
Mon 17 Jul 2017, 1:05pm


The shooting of an Australian woman by US police has raised serious concerns after it was revealed the officers did not have their body cameras turned on.

Justine Damond, aged 40, was shot dead in Minneapolis about 11:30pm local time on Saturday after two officers responded to a report of a possible assault.

Ms Damond, originally from Sydney and also known as Justine Ruszczyk, was a trained veterinarian who worked as a meditation teacher and spiritual healer who worked with people with cancer, depression and alcoholism.

She was engaged to Minneapolis local Don Damond and they were due to marry next month.

Her stepson Zach Damond, 22, said she called police after hearing a noise in the alleyway near their house in the suburb of Fulton.

"At one point an officer fired their weapon, fatally striking a woman," the police department said. "Officers were dispatched. When officers responded, an officer-involved shooting occurred, which resulted in one adult female victim who is deceased and which has prompted our callout to the BCA [Bureau of Criminal Apprehension].

"The BCA will now further be conducting this investigation, this officer-involved shooting, from this point forward."

Ms Hodges said she understood the police body cameras and squad camera, which were introduced to the Minneapolis Police Department last year, were not switched on when the shooting occurred.

The two officers involved have been placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-17/australian-woman-shot-dead-by-police-in-minneapolis/8714330
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The shooting happened at the end of the alley on W. 51st Street between Washburn and Xerxes avenues S. in the city's Fulton neighborhood. The woman, Justine Damond, from Sydney, Australia, and her fiancé lived in the 5000 block of Washburn.

Three sources with knowledge of the incident said Sunday that two officers in one squad car, responding to the 911 call, pulled into the alley. Damond, in her pajamas, went to the driver's side door and was talking to the driver. The officer in the passenger seat pulled his gun and shot Damond through the driver's side door, sources said. No weapon was found at the scene.

"Two Minneapolis police officers responded to a 911 call of a possible assault just north of the 5100 block of Washburn Avenue S. just before 11:30 p.m. Saturday," the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said in a news release. "At one point, an officer fired their weapon, fatally striking a woman.

http://www.startribune.com/woman-ki...ed-shooting-in-south-minneapolis/434782213/#1
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How does this happen?
 

Tragic. Saturday night, paranoid police and a victim who apparently approached the police in what was probably poor lighting. Doesn't justify it but it could be a factor.

Body cameras turned off, not good.
 

This happens because law enforcement officers know that there is seldom any serious consequences to just shooting innocent civilians. Convictions of such officers are so rare that the thought of consequences to such killings just doesn't exist for them. If convictions become more common, then things will change, not before.
 
Linda W. said:
This happens because law enforcement officers know that there is seldom any serious consequences to just shooting innocent civilians. Convictions of such officers are so rare that the thought of consequences to such killings just doesn't exist for them. If convictions become more common, then things will change, not before.
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I agree. Police get away with far too much. They need to be reined in.
 
Such a shame, may she rest peacefully. My husband told me about this story but I don't know all the details. It's a sorry state of affairs when the police department, people who you should have complete trust in, can do something like this. Luckily there aren't many officers of the law who are so careless and trigger happy.
 
I saw this story on TV, I am shocked. What a shame. I support law enforcement, having worked for LE agencies over 30 years. But, all these officer involved shootings over the last couple years really has me perplexed.

Training? The culture? Confronting violent and crazy people is a factor, but what goes through the mind of an officer, when he sees a young woman in a nightgown approach the patrol car, and decides to use lethal force?
 
On our local news, it stated that the passenger cop shot through the drivers window. Never got out of car if the report is correct. The police are running scared mainly because so many are being killed, but this doesn't justify the shooting. I don't know was the answer is. So many killings. Over 2,000 shootings in Chicago this year.
 
Don't know what happened but that isn't the result anyone wanted.

I live in a major metro area where crime and violence is a fact of life and when I knowing have to approach or am being approached by a police officer, I try to take into account the surroundings, circumstances, and visibility (as in day light versus night, whether I am standing in plan view or sitting in my vehicle, whether I'm wearing a jacket, etc.) and act accordingly to avoid an incident.

I remember walking up to a police car a few years back where I was trying to help out a neighbor that was having a problem and had a TRO (temporary restraining order) they were trying to get the police to enforce and remove someone from their condo. They didn't speak English and a friend of theirs that kinda spoke some English got me involved earlier in the day. It was winter (jacket and glove weather) and it was dark. I had read their TRO and had been told the details/story so I felt obligated to tell the police officer. I made sure I approached in the lights of their vehicle since it was basically pointed in the direction I was coming from, coughed to make sure they saw me coming from a distance, took off my gloves, kept my hands in plain view, and slowly rotated them.

Not trying to blame the victim, just saying sometimes you can do or not do things to better your odds of not becoming a victim. You don't want to come running at the police from the dark without warning, especially at close range and particularly when they might be on alert to things or someone that might do them harm because of any number of factors. And of course that is easier to do in hind sight when you are calm and collected.
 
She was standing at the window talking to the driver, in her PJs.
Instead of pointing a gun at her it might have been better to shine a flash light at her.
According to the neighbours the area is well lit.
 
Pappy said:
The police are running scared mainly because so many are being killed.
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Which is a myth.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cop-top-10-dangerous-jobs-country-tanks/


We are constantly reminded via politicians, television, and the mainstream media in general of just how brave those “boys in blue” are to work in such “dangerous” conditions. The thin blue line, we’re told, is akin to storming the beaches at Normandy.
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 But do these claims of mass danger and death hold water? Is it really necessary to smash an elderly woman’s face into the ground, so you can “make it home to your wife and kids”?

The Free Thought Project decided to see just how dangerous being a police officer actually is. What we found out is, compared to other jobs, being a cop is not nearly as dangerous as they’d like you to believe.
Over the last decade police departments across the country have been steadily increasing their firepower, while their jobs have actually gotten LESS dangerous.
A new report put out by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, highlights that 2013 has had the “Lowest Level of Law Enforcement Fatalities in Six Decades” and the fewest officers killed by firearms since 1887!

In fact cops don’t even rank in the top 10 most dangerous jobs in the country according to The Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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I was angry after making my first post in this thread. I watch the news and almost every day I see police killing people; seems to be an epidemic, they seem to always be found innocent, too. I think the fact that they keep being found innocent makes it easier for more police to shoot and kill people. It's become ridiculous! I am waiting for some of them to be found guilty...

Yes, all police are not the same but those that kill innocent people have become so many!
 
My guess in the lack of info coming out about what/how/why that happened is because the authorities are in shock over what happened and are hoping for something to come to light to at least explain how that could have happened.
 
Why isn't the white community in Minneapolis rioting? A white woman was shot to death by a black "Muslim" officer. She called 911 for help, then shot dead. Ironically, the officer's body cam wasn't turned on. What would Minneapolis/National News look like if the rolls were reversed????? I suppose the news will find some way to twist the responsibility.

Where's Jesse and Al?
 
Such a sad story. Can't understand why their reasoning for NOT having their body cameras on hasn't been answered. Seems like a simple question to me. Feel the officier who shot should be compelled to be interviewed or face losing his job. Much of this story seems to be covering up something that never should have happened.
 
Wayne said:
Why isn't the white community in Minneapolis rioting?
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Maybe because us white folks haven't been subjected to 400 years of slavery, apartheid and Jim Crow?

Caution, Louis CK uses words that may be considered offensive to those with delicate shell like ears.

 

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