Justine Damond, 40, was fatally wounded by police Minneapolis in the USA “for no reason”.
Justine had been living with her fiancé and son in Minneapolis, and was shot dead after calling 911 to report an alleyway disturbance.
“Our hearts are broken and we utterly devastated by the loss of Justine,” her fiancé Don Damond said in a statement.
“As you know, it was Justine who called 911 on Saturday evening, reporting what she believed was an active sexual assault occurring nearby.”
“She touched so many people with her loving and generous heart. She was a teaching 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.”
Damond added they’d been given “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.
“Piecing together Justine’s last moments before the homicide would be a small comforts as we grieve this tragedy.”
Her family and friends are demanding answers as to why Justine, a popular meditation teacher, was shot dead by police.
Source: Twitter.
The officer who delivered the fatal bullet has now been named as Mohamed Noor, from the Minneapolis Police Department, who has under two years’ experience.
Noor was sitting in the passenger seat of a police car when he shot across his partner, killing the 40-year-old about 11.30pm Saturday local time.
Justine was reportedly in her pyjamas at the time.
There was allegedly a mobile phone found near Justine’s body that was mistaken for a gun but no weapons were found at the scene.
Mohamed Noor is pictured centre.
The city’s mayor Betsy Hodges has called the incident “tragic” and demanded a full investigation:
The mayor also questioned why the police body cameras and squad camera, which were introduced to the Minneapolis Police Department in 2016, were not switched on when the shooting occurred. Noor and his unidentified partner have been placed on paid administrative leave.
A man named Zach Damond, who identified himself as Justine’s stepson posted a Facebook live video, demanding answers:
“Basically my mum is dead because a police officer shot her for reasons I don’t know, and I demand answers. I just know is that she [the victim], heard a sound in the alley so she called the police, and the cops showed up.
“And she probably… thought something bad was happening and then the next thing, they take my best friend’s life.
“I’m so done with all this violence, it’s so much bulls–t.
“America sucks, these cops need to be trained differently and I need to move out of here.”
Fox News questioned him about the tragedy:
More as we get it.
