Justine Damond Shooting Investigation: 3 Things To Remember

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — The investigation into a fatal officer-involved shooting can be a complex and long process. In the days after the incident, the public, and even powerful public officials, have many questions for investigators who can seldom provide answers.

Here are three brief points to remember regarding the investigation into the fatal shooting of Justine Damond:

1. Following the fatal officer-involved shooting of Justine Damond July 15, the city requested the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) immediately begin an independent investigation of the incident.

An independent investigation of the incident maintains the independence and integrity of the investigation. In 2014, the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) asked the BCA to take over “critical incident” investigations involving MPD officers.

This decision was made to avoid MPD having to investigate itself in these most sensitive cases, and in so doing, help build community trust in the oversight process.

Related:

• Officer Mohamed Noor Says No To Interview: BCA
• Mourners In Sydney Hold Beach Vigil For Justine Damond
• Justine Damond Reported Possible Rape To Police: Transcripts
• Damond Family Hires Attorney From Philando Castile Case

2. Since the BCA is leading the investigation, the city does not have access to investigative information except for the information released publicly by the BCA. City leaders have asked the BCA to be as quick and transparent in their investigation as possible while maintaining their integrity, according to a news release.

On July 18, the BCA released additional information about the incident. Following this release, the city made available public documents not classified by the BCA as criminal investigative data in an online portal. Additional information will be added to the city’s online portal as data is approved for release.

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3. The city’s civilian Office of Police Conduct Review (OPCR) has initiated an inquiry, which may be investigated after the process described in the graphic below. For any officer-involved shooting, MPD’s Internal Affairs Unit also activates an automatic internal affairs use of force review.

Photo by Stephen Govel, used with permission