Minneapolis City Hall was under siege on Friday, hours after the embattled mayor forced Police Chief Janeé Harteau to resign amid escalating protests a week after the shooting death of Australian Justine Damond.
Damond, 40, died after she was shot by a cop who responded to her 911 call about a possible rape in her Fulton neighborhood on Saturday.
Mohamed Noor, 31, refused to speak to investigators to explain why he shot Damond after his partner rolled the driver’s side window down to speak to her.
Noor, who was on the passenger side, reached across his partner to fire through the open car window, striking Damond in the abdomen.
Police Chief Harteau announced her resignation after meeting with Mayor Betsy Hodges on Friday. Harteau was heavily criticized for not returning from a hiking trip until 4 days after Damond’s death.
The mayor’s 8 pm news conference was delayed after protesters crowded into City Hall, shouting the mayor down while she attempted to speak to reporters. Earlier in the evening, about 200 protesters marched downtown, blocking rush hour traffic. They demanded the mayor’s resignation.
The police chief had resisted the city’s efforts to install body cameras on all police officers in 2013.
Harteau argued against the need for police officers to carry body cameras at a meeting before City Council members, a month before Hodges was elected mayor.
Mayor Hodges said she had the votes necessary from City Council members to fire Police Chief Harteau if she refused to resign.
24 hours before she resigned, Harteau tried to defend her officers’ training.
According to published reports, Mohamed Noor failed field training exams 4 times. The training exercises prepared officers for real world situations.
Harteau said Mohamed Noor’s decision to open fire at Justine Damond was “one individual’s actions” and not representative of the force.
She said the two officers should have activated their body cameras and that Damond “didn’t have to die.”
Officer Noor’s itchy trigger finger did “not reflect the training and procedures we developed as a department,” she said.
She assured Minneapolis residents that Noor “completed his training” and he “did very well.”
“We have a very robust training and hiring process,” she said. “He was very suited to be on the street.”
