Winston Smith Killing: No Charges For Federal Task Force

MINNESOTA — The Crow Wing County Attorney is not charging the officers involved in the June 3 killing of Winston Smith, a 32-year-old Black man.

Smith was shot and killed in the Minneapolis neighborhood of Uptown by members of an on-duty United States Marshals Fugitive Task Force.

The federal task force was made up of local law enforcement officers. Two unnamed deputies from Hennepin and Ramsey County were identified as the shooters.

No Minneapolis police officers were on the task force or involved in the shooting.

The charging decision in the case was turned over to Crow Wing County in order to avoid any potential conflict of interest in Hennepin County.

"I find that the US Marshal Task Force was properly exercising its lawful authority," Donald F. Ryan, the Crow Wing County Attorney, wrote in a letter to Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman Monday

Smith was shot and killed on the top level of a parking ramp at 1405 West Lake Street just after 2 p.m. on June 3. He was wanted by the state in a possession of a firearm by a felon case, the Marshals Service said.

Smith "failed to comply with the lawful orders," Ryan wrote Monday.

During the confrontation, Smith fired his weapon from inside a car before he was killed, according to authorities.

"Though I am unable to determine who fired first, it is irrelevant in this case," Ryan added in the letter.

"Once an individual initiates a deadly force confrontation, a law enforcement officer does not have to wait to be shot/shot at before reacting."

A woman who was in the car at the time was treated for minor injuries from glass debris.

The U.S Marshal Service does allow task force members to have body cameras, and there is no squad camera footage of the incident.

The fatal shooting sparked days of protests and street violence. One of the protests turned deadly when someone drove into a crowd of demonstrators, killing a 31-year-old mother of two.