Australian Woman Shot Dead After She Slapped Police Car

The news of an Australian woman being shot dead by Minnesota police has captivated not only Americans but even Australians. How could a female who had called police to report a sexual crime be shot dead by a police officer, when she wasn’t even armed? Worse, the police officer had a body camera but did not even turn it on. The exact details about this incident involving the Australian have not yet been revealed but a newspaper report indicates that the female may have slapped the police car shortly before she was killed.

These details came to light based on a search warrant filed by the Minnesota Bureau of Crime Apprehension. The search warrant specifically does not state the name of this Australian female, Justine Damond, but does state that, “Upon police arrival, a female ‘slaps’ the back of the patrol squad … After that, it is unknown to BCA agents what exactly happened, but the female became deceased in the alley.”

On Monday the personnel records of the officer who fatally shot Damond dead were publicly released and soon after a warrant was issued. These personnel records do provide some information on the type of training the officer had taken but there were no details about his job performance or any type of problems in the past. The police officer involved in this incident is Officer Mohamed Noor, who was hired two years ago. In 2015, he passed the peace officer licensing exam and was soon sworn in as a licensed officer.

The records do reveal that Noor had taken multiple training courses about active shooter situations for the Super Bowl, which will be held in Minnesota in 2018. The file reveals he has passed all the gun qualifications tests.

Officer Noor has been on paid leave after the death of Damond and has not issued any official statements. Noor was in the passenger seat of the police car and shot across his partner’s driver seat and hit Damond. He told investigators that he heard a loud noise and fired.

Authorities are now determining if Noor should face criminal changes. Noor is one of the few Somali Americans who have been hired by the Minnesota police department in an effort to reflect the diversity of the city. The police Chief Janee Harteau, did criticize Noor’s actions but defended his training. She recently resigned.

Damond, 40, was a spiritual teacher who was engaged to be married on July 15. On that fateful day she called 911 twice to report a sexual crime and unfortunately, she ended up being the one who was killed.