Minneapolis, MN
Ex-Minneapolis officer who killed 911 caller to be released
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The previous Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot an unarmed lady who referred to as 911 to report a doable sexual assault within the alley behind her house is scheduled to be launched from jail subsequent week, months after his homicide conviction was overturned and he was resentenced on a lesser cost.
Mohamed Noor, 36, is scheduled to be launched from custody Monday, 18 days shy of the fifth anniversary of the July 15, 2017, deadly taking pictures of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a 40-year-old twin U.S.-Australian citizen and yoga trainer who was engaged to be married.
Noor was initially convicted of third-degree homicide and manslaughter, however final 12 months the Minnesota Supreme Courtroom tossed out his homicide conviction and 12 1/2-year sentence, saying the homicide cost didn’t apply to the circumstances of this case. He was resentenced to 4 years and 9 months on the manslaughter cost.
In Minnesota, it’s presumed {that a} defendant with good habits will serve two-thirds of a sentence in jail and the remainder on supervised launch, generally often called parole. The DOC’s web site says Noor will likely be on supervised launch till Jan. 24, 2024.
Damond’s father, John Ruszczyk, stated Friday that the household was disenchanted that Noor’s third-degree homicide conviction was overturned.
“His launch after a trivial sentence reveals nice disrespect to the desires of the jury who represented the communities of Minneapolis and their want to make a press release in regards to the communities’ expectations of police habits and actions,” Ruszczyk wrote in response to emailed questions from The Related Press.
Damond’s stepmother, Maryan Heffernan, stated in a telephone interview that the timing of Noor’s launch — so near the anniversary of Damond’s dying — is painful.
“We’re very disenchanted. However we’re not shocked. We’ve been watching occasions in Minneapolis from miles away and we’re nonetheless bewildered in regards to the cost being dropped and we’re nonetheless bewildered in regards to the tradition of the Minneapolis Police Division,” Heffernan stated, including that she believes Noor was the product of a “very dysfunctional division.”
After his conviction, Noor started serving his time at Minnesota’s maximum-security jail in Oak Park Heights, however the Star Tribune reported he was transferred to a facility in North Dakota in July 2019 for his personal security. Division of Corrections spokesman Nicholas Kimball stated Noor remains to be out of state, however didn’t specify the place.
“For security causes, we aren’t capable of present extra element than what is on the market on the general public web site, which is the scheduled date of launch,” Kimball stated.
It wasn’t clear whether or not Noor would return to Minnesota. His legal professional, Tom Plunkett, declined to remark, saying, “at this level I simply need to respect Mr. Noor’s privateness.”
Damond’s killing angered residents within the U.S. and Australia, and led to the resignation of Minneapolis’ police chief. It additionally led the division to vary its coverage on physique cameras; Noor and his associate didn’t have theirs activated once they had been investigating Damond’s 911 name.
Noor testified at his 2019 trial that he and his associate had been driving slowly in an alley when a loud bang on their police SUV made him worry for his or her lives. He stated he noticed a lady seem on the associate’s driver’s aspect window and lift her proper arm earlier than he fired a shot from the passenger seat to cease what he thought was a menace.
Damond was a meditation trainer and life coach who was killed a few month earlier than her wedding ceremony. Her maiden identify was Justine Ruszczyk, and although she was not but married, she had already been utilizing her fiance’s final identify.
Her fiance, Don Damond, declined to touch upon Noor’s upcoming launch, however stated throughout Noor’s resentencing that he had forgiven the previous officer, and that he had little doubt Justine additionally would have forgiven him “on your incapacity in managing your feelings that night time.”
Noor, who’s Somali American, was believed to be the primary Minnesota officer convicted of homicide for an on-duty taking pictures. Activists who had lengthy referred to as for officers to be held accountable for the lethal use of drive applauded the homicide conviction.
Since Noor’s conviction, former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin, who’s white, was convicted of homicide within the Could 2020 killing of George Floyd, a Black man who was pinned to the pavement below Chauvin’s knee. Chauvin’s colleague, Thomas Lane, pleaded responsible to aiding and abetting manslaughter, whereas two different officers are awaiting trial on costs of aiding and abetting each homicide and manslaughter. All 4 have been convicted on federal costs of violating Floyd’s rights.
In one other case, former Brooklyn Heart Officer Kim Potter was convicted of manslaughter after she stated she mistook her Taser for her handgun when she fatally shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black motorist, throughout a site visitors cease final 12 months.
John Ruszczyk stated in his e mail to the AP that his household believes state investigators and the Minneapolis Police Division didn’t totally cooperate with the investigation into his daughter’s killing and he was disturbed by the company’s tradition.
He stated he believes the division accepts utilizing violence as a solution to management difficult conditions, which he stated contributed to her dying. He cited a latest report from the state Division of Human Rights which discovered that the company has engaged in a sample of race discrimination for a minimum of a decade, together with utilizing drive extra typically on individuals of shade. Federal authorities are additionally investigating whether or not the division engaged in a sample of discrimination.
“How may officers exit onto the streets within the roles of defenders of public security and order with the angle to their duties and obligations that enables them to shoot first and ask questions later?” he wrote.
Days after Noor’s conviction, Minneapolis agreed to pay $20 million to Damond’s household, believed on the time to be the biggest settlement stemming from police violence in Minnesota. It was surpassed final 12 months when Minneapolis agreed to a $27 million settlement in Floyd’s dying simply as Chauvin was occurring trial.
The killing of Floyd led to a reckoning over police brutality and discrimination involving individuals of shade. The division is dealing with requires extra accountability and the state is recommending a number of modifications because it seeks a court-enforceable consent decree. Metropolis leaders proceed to debate find out how to change the system.
She stated that at his trial, the household was advised that Damond’s dying would result in change, however when Floyd was killed, “we had been completely shattered as a result of nothing had modified. We felt that Justine’s dying meant nothing … She is forgotten.”
However Heffernan stated that Damond is remembered by individuals in Australia, and her household thinks of her her day by day. On the anniversary of her dying, they go quietly to her favourite seaside and throw pink flowers — her favourite shade — into the surf because the solar is rising.
She additionally stated that after a month through the summer season, her household sends flowers to the positioning of Damond’s killing, in addition to on her birthday and July 15 — the day of her dying.
“She touched lots of people’s hearts, which I feel is sort of wonderful,” Heffernan stated.
__
This story has been up to date to right Noor’s sentence on the manslaughter rely to 4 years and 9 months, not 41 months.
Copyright 2022 The Related Press. All rights reserved.
Minneapolis, MN
Minneapolis park board systems disrupted by cyberattack
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Minneapolis, MN
Vacant no more: Artists, creatives move into empty storefronts for new Minneapolis initiative
The city of Minneapolis announced the first awardees of its Vibrant Storefronts Initiative. The city’s pilot program subsidizes the rent of formerly vacant storefronts downtown for artists and arts organizations.
The awardees include Black Business Enterprises, Twin Cities Pride, Skntones creative agency, Blackbird Revolt design studio and Flavor World arts and entertainment company. The city’s Arts and Cultural Affairs department chose the awardees from 43 applicants.
“They selected the brightest and most talented people that we have in the city to fill these spaces with creativity,” said Mayor Jacob Frey in a press conference at one of the formerly vacant storefronts at 1128 Harmon Place.
“The whole idea is that it’s not just any creativity. It’s edgy. It puts you on the edge of your seat a little bit. It challenges our perspective. It requires us to all think outside the box, and it’s livening up an area.”
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The five arts and culture organizations will occupy spaces within a few blocks of each other near Loring Park in the city’s effort to create a cultural hub. The city reports that the initiative will distribute $224,202 “to foster creativity, enhance vibrancy, and promote sustainability in Minneapolis.”
“This program was meant to not only address the the lack of vibrancy in the storefronts, but also address the affordable space crisis that are facing artists in our community, and so we’re trying to combine and solve both of those through this initiative,” said Ben Johnson, arts and cultural affairs director.
Blackbird Revolt owner and founder, University of Minnesota associate design professor Terresa Moses, said the initiative would help the studio fulfill its dreams and help revitalize downtown.
“What that includes is us working together to intersect design, animation, video, photography with black liberation, with abolition, with justice, with the things that we find are important, lifting up our voices and our narrative,” Moses told the crowd. Blackbird Revolt will occupy 1128 Harmon Place.
Twin Cities Pride executive director Andi Otti said it was an opportunity for the longstanding organization to deepen its roots. Otti announced the creation of the new Pride Cultural Arts Center (PCAC) at 1201 Harmon Place, just blocks away from where the Twin Cities Pride Festival takes place at Loring Park every June.
“By creating a physical location and a cultural hub for the community connection and growth, the PCAC will serve as a dynamic platform for expression, education and support,” Otti said. “It will be a safe, welcoming and vibrant environment where community members and our allies can celebrate arts and culture.”
Nancy Korsah is the founder of Black Business Enterprises (BBE), a business-to-business service provider that provides guidance to entrepreneurs. The goal is to turn the BBE storefront at 1128 Harmon Place into an art activation hub.
“We want to make sure that you understand that art is not dead,” Korsah said. “We are here to bring the neighborhood back alive, and we’re going to work together, all of us, to ensure that we can create spaces for artists to really express themselves and to showcase the incredible talent that is Minneapolis.”
The storefront leases will run for two years. Current awardees will have the option to renew.
“These neighborhoods and these buildings have been vacant for a long time,” said Minneapolis Council member Katie Cashman. “So, I’m really happy that the city this year decided to invest in artists as a strategy to fill vibrant storefronts.”
The city’s Arts and Cultural Affairs department hopes to expand the program in 2025.
Minneapolis, MN
Charli XCX announces
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis will officially enter its “Brat” era next spring.
English hyperpop artist Charli XCX announced on Friday a Minneapolis stop of her global tour, after she originally skipped the Twin Cities — and large parts of the Midwest — in the fall. She’ll be coming to Minneapolis on April 26, 2025.
She also announced stops in Austin, Texas, Rosemount, Illinois and Brooklyn, New York. After her dates in Brooklyn, she’ll head to Europe to close out the tour.
Presale tickets go live on Tuesday at 10 a.m.
Minneapolis residents got a hint that Charli XCX would be coming, as a Brat-themed billboard covered Target Center in downtown. Similar lime green billboards were spotted in Brooklyn and Chicago.
The last time she came to Minneapolis was in 2022 at the Palace Theatre, after the release of her fifth album, “Crash.”
She released “Brat” this summer and has since been nominated for seven Grammys, including record of the year and album of the year.
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