Daily Mail, December 26, 2017

Justine Damond, formerly of Sydney, was shot dead by police officer Mohamed Noor on July 15 after calling 911 to report a possible assault on another woman

Police have removed a candle-lit memorial that a white nationalist group created to honor an Australian woman killed in Minneapolis by a Somali-American officer in July.

Minneapolis Police spokesman John Elder told local radio that an officer cleared the memorial when the department learned it was displayed outside a precinct headquarters.

‘We cannot allow any memorial and anything like that to be put up at that location,’ Mr Elder told Minneapolis Public Radio News.

The northern California hate group called Identity Evropa said on its Twitter account it put up the memorial on Friday.

The group helped organise participants in the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in August.

The memorial to Justine Ruszczyk Damond consisted of a framed portrait, candles, roses and signs reading ‘United We Stand.’

The Minneapolis mayor-elect added to the condemnation on Saturday, calling the shrine ‘disgusting’.

White nationalist group Identity Evropa created a memorial for Justine Ruszczyk Damond out the front of a police precinct headquarters

The memorial consisted of a framed portrait, candles, roses and signs reading ‘United We Stand’

‘I condemn the perpetrators and their tactics in the strongest possible terms,’ Frey said in a statement.

‘Identity Evropa and those who share their values have no place in our city. Hate has no place in Minneapolis. Period.’

The Star Tribune newspaper reported that only the extinguished candles remained Saturday night.

Officer Mohamed Noor shot Damond after she called to report a possible sexual assault in July. No charges have been filed.

Damond, who was engaged to a local man, called 911 to report a possible sexual assault behind her home in an upper-middle-class neighborhood.

Responding officer Matthew Harrity reported being startled by a loud noise near his squad car. Damond, who may have rapped on the car, approached on the driver’s side.

Harrity’s partner, Mohamed Noor, reached across Harrity from the passenger seat and fired. Damond died at the scene.

The memorial was placed on a sidewalk near an intersection outside the police station.

The group that organised the memorial helped organise participants in the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in August

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman has yet to decide whether to file criminal charges against Noor.

Freeman expressed frustration earlier this month, telling activists that he didn’t have enough evidence to charge Noor and said investigators ‘haven’t done their job.’

He also suggested Noor’s refusal to speak to investigators had put prosecutors in a difficult position.

‘I have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, (that) the moment he shot the gun, he feared for his life. And he used force because he thought he was gonna be killed,’ Freeman said.

‘But I can’t. He won’t answer my questions because he doesn’t have to, OK?’

Freeman later apologized to investigators and said his comments were ill-advised.