The family of Justine Damond speak of their grief

The family of Justine Damond speak of their grief

THE father of Justine Damond, the Australian woman killed by a police officer in Minnesota, has called for justice for his daughter.

“We only ask that the light of justice shine down on the circumstances of her death,” an emotional John Ruszczyk said outside his family home in Freshwater on Sydney’s northern beaches this afternoon.

The bookshop owner and his family paid tribute to the former vet, with his family supporting him as he faced the media.

“We thought yesterday was our worst nightmare. But we awoke to the ugly truth, and it hurt even more.

“We went down to Freshy beach this morning, and saw the darkness change to light.” he said.

Ruszczyk paid tribute to his daughter, saying she touched many lives.

“Justine our daughter was so special to us, and to so many others,” he said. “Justine was a beacon to all of us,” he added.

According to the Star Tribune, officer Mohamed Noor violated his department’s rules on the use of bodycams.

The Minneapolis Police Department’s Policy and Procedure manual says that any use of force requires the camera’s activation. If things change quickly and the officer is too busy, he or she should activate the camera “as soon as it is safe to do so”.

The cameras record a 30-second video buffer, a so-called “lookback” that allows officers to capture whatever happened in the half-minute before it’s activated.

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is investigating the actions of Noor, who shot Justine Ruszczyk Damond, 40, on Saturday night.

The BCA said in a statement that it will be the Police Department’s job to determine whether the officers officially violated the department’s body camera policy.

Ms Damond’s distraught fiance made an emotional appeal, saying his family is “utterly devastated”.

Don Damond, 50, said the family were “desperate for information” about her shooting — in which he also referred to as a “homicide.”

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner, after conducting an autopsy on Ms Damond, has issued a statement saying the fatal police shooting was a homicide. She died from a gunshot wound to her abdomen.

Police say officers were responding to a call about a possible assault late on Saturday when Ms Damond was killed. Authorities have released no details about what led to the shooting.

But a history of complaints made against the police officer who shot Ms Damond, including one incident which he is being sued for, has also emerged.

OFFICER BREAKS SILENCE

The police officer who gunned down Ms Damond has offered his condolences to her family, saying he has them in his “thoughts and prayers”.

In a statement released by his lawyer, Noor says he takes the shooting “seriously”.

“He takes these events very seriously because for him being a police officer is a calling,” his lawyer Tom Plunkett said. “He entered the police force to serve the community and to protect the people he serves.”

The exact circumstances behind the shooting remain unclear, despite the release of an unofficial recording of the dialogue between Noor and his partner while in their patrol vehicle.

His lawyer said in the statement: “Officer Noor extends his condolences to the family and anyone else who has been touched by this event. He takes their loss seriously and keeps them in his daily thoughts and prayers. ”

He adds Noor arrived in the United States at a very young age and “is thankful to have had so many opportunities”.

“The current environment for police is difficult but Officer Noor accepts this as part of his calling,” Plunkett said.

“We would like to say more and will in the future. At this time however, there are several investigations that are ongoing. More importantly Officer Noor wants to respect the privacy of the family and asks the same in return during this difficult period.”

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said his office is monitoring the case, and he would decide himself whether to charge Noor with the shooting.

OFFICER’S HISTORY OF COMPLAINTS

Mohamed Noor had little more than two years’ experience on the force.

Noor and his partner, whose cameras were not turned on during the shooting, have been placed on paid administrative leave.

Minneapolis’ Star Tribune reports the partner, who did not fire any shots, as being officer Matthew Harrity who received his badge just a year ago.

Noor joined the Minneapolis Police Department in March 2015 and is the first Somali-American police officer assigned to the 5th Precinct in the southwest part of the city.

Noor’s lawyer, Tom Plunkett, confirmed Noor fired his weapon, killing Ms Damond, who was originally from Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

The Star Tribune reports Noor has been sued once for his involvement in a May 25, 2017 incident, where he and two other officers came to a woman’s home and took her to a hospital. The woman alleges this constituted false imprisonment and assault.

The woman claimed that Noor “grabbed her right wrist and upper arm” when moving her, leaving her “immobilised”.

The retired social worker from Minneapolis, alleged that she had called 911 to “report an unknown young male who was sitting on her retaining wall behind her house smoking marijuana.”

Officers went her home at 8pm to carry out a welfare check after “one or more relatives” allegedly complained to police that she had “some sort of mental health problem”.

Lawyers acting on behalf of the officers say they believed the woman was suffering a mental health crisis.

In total, he reportedly has had three complaints made against him in two years — including the lawsuit.

Two are from 2017 and one from 2016 is closed and according to Lou Raguse of Kare 11 is marked ‘not to be made public’.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), which is conducting the investigation, said in a statement that “initial interviews with officers” still weren’t complete two days after the shooting.

A SHOT IN THE DARK

Scratchy audio of the police radio conversation has been uploaded to a Minnesota website that monitors the state’s police scanners.

It captures the moments around the fatal shooting of the Australian spiritual healer and meditation coach.

The police audio begins with the description of a “female screaming behind the building”, believed to be what Ms Damond told the dispatcher in her initial 911 call.

The officers are heard communicating with their dispatcher over the police radio, including calling for back-up.

Ms Damond, dressed in her pyjamas, reportedly approached the driver’s side window of the police car when it arrived in the alley and officer Noor shot across his partner at Ms Damond more than once from the passenger seat.

“Shots fired ... we have one down,” one of the officers says.

‘ONE DOWN’: Justine Ruszczyk Damond’s last moments

The tape then records their attempts to perform CPR on Ms Damond.

A mobile phone reportedly found near Ms Damond’s body raised the prospect police thought it was a gun. No weapons were found at the scene.

Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau released a statement saying the investigation into Ms Damond’s death would be expedited.

“I want to acknowledge the pain and frustration that family and community members have following the fatal officer-involved shooting on Saturday night. This is clearly a tragic death,” she said.

“I also want to assure you that I understand why so many people have so many questions at this point. I have many of the same questions and it is why we immediately asked for an external and independent investigation into the officer-involved shooting death. I’ve asked for the investigation to be expedited to provide transparency and to answer as many questions as quickly as we can.”

‘UTTERLY DEVASTATED’

The Sydney woman’s grieving partner revealed she had called 911 on Saturday when she heard noise in the alley behind the family home.

“Our hearts are broken and we are utterly devastated by the loss of Justine,” he said.

“As you know, it was Justine who called 911 on Saturday evening, reporting what she believed was an active sexual assault occurring nearby.”

Mr Damond was damning of police, saying the family have been provided with “almost no additional information from law enforcement regarding what happened after police arrived”.

“We’ve lost the dearest of people and we’re desperate for information,” he said.

“Sadly our family and I have been provided with absolutely no additional information from law enforcement regarding what happened after police arrived. We’ve lost the dearest of people and we are desperate for information. Piecing together Justine’s last moments before the homicide would be a small comfort as we grieve this tragedy.”

Mr Damond said Justine’s death was a loss to everyone who knew her.

“She touched so many people with her loving and generous heart. She was a teacher to so many and living a life of openness, love and kindness,” he said.

“She was so kind and so darn funny. It is difficult to fathom how to go forward without her in my life.”

Ms Damond’s soon-to-be stepson, Zach Damond, was approached by local media outside his home on Monday.

When asked by Fox 9 what he’d like to say to Noor, he said: “Why? Why would you do this? He has no idea the impact that he has on thousands of people. No idea.”

“But I hope that he wakes up every single day and thinks about it. And then I hope that he thinks about how he can be a better person because that’s what she did every single day. And if you don’t do that, you’re not even living either.”

Don Damond, the vice president of Little Six Casino, was away on business when his partner was murdered and arrived at their home yesterday afternoon.

Earlier, Zach posted a poignant video about his “best friend”, who had previously spoken out about America’s gun culture.

“Basically my mum’s dead because a police officer shot her for reasons I don’t know,” he said.

“America sucks.”

TRIBUTES FLOW

On Monday morning, a steady stream of neighbours and friends arrived to lay flowers and tributes where Ms Damond was killed. Many expressed shock at the murder in their quiet middle class neighbourhood.

RELATED: Aussie woman killed in her pyjamas

“This was not a woman who would have presented any kind of threat to police. She was a gentle, loving person,” said Joan Hargrave, who lived down the street and befriended Ms Damond a year ago through a shared love of dogs.

Laurie Engel, who lives across the street from the driveway where Ms Damond fell, said she didn’t hear a shot but watched in horror as police swarmed the area following the shooting.

“I was struck by the size of the body lying under the blanket there, I thought at first it must have been a child,” she said.

“It was only later that I realised it was Justine, and it was such a shock. She didn’t deserve this to happen.”

A crowd of more than 100 gathered at a vigil yesterday to remember the corporate speaker and meditation teacher, who moved from Sydney’s Northern Beaches three years ago and was to marry US businessman Don Damond, 50, next month.

MORE: What we know about the shooting death of Justine Damond

“This woman was a beautiful light. She was a healer, she was loved, she should be alive — she should still be here,” said neighbour Bethany Bradley.

A family friend, who only wanted to be identified as Hannah, described the couple as “just so in love”.

COMMUNITY CONCERNS

Activists were among the mourners outside the Damond home yesterday, and they quickly linked her name with other high profile victims of police shootings.

Large love hearts were chalked onto the driveway near where Damond fell, with the names Jamar Clark and Philando Castile, whose killings at the hands of police sparked protests and marches.

RELATED: ‘Passionate Aussie shot for ‘reasons we don’t know’

Hannah, 21, said she was a friend of Zach’s and echoed the questions of many.

“I don’t know what she was doing out,” Hannah told the local Star Tribune newspaper.

Press release from the MN Bureau of Criminal Apprehension regarding the officer-involved shooting on the 5100 block of Washburn Ave. South. pic.twitter.com/wRR9sA3gbt — Minneapolis Police (@MinneapolisPD) July 16, 2017

“She’s such a kind woman. She took me in when I was in a tough situation and helped me with whatever I needed.”

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges also questioned why the officers’ cameras weren’t filming and vowed to get answers on behalf of Damond.

“As mayor of our city, a wife, and a grandmother, I am heartsick and deeply disturbed by what occurred last night,” Mayor Hodges said at a press conference yesterday.

‘There are still many questions about what took place, and while the investigation is still in its early stages, I am asking the BCA to release as much information, as quickly as they are able to.”