Grand jury in Ruszczyk police shooting ready to hear cops' testimony

Updated 8:51 a.m. | Posted 7:55 a.m.

A grand jury convened to investigate the fatal police shooting of a Minneapolis woman last July is set to begin its work Tuesday after subpoenaing more than 30 officers.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman called the grand jury as part of the process to decide whether to file charges against Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor in the 2017 shooting death of Justine Ruszczyk.

Most of the 30 officers subpoenaed to testify are Noor's trainers and academy educators, said Minneapolis police union president Lt. Bob Kroll.

"They have no relevant information from the incident that night," Kroll said Tuesday.

He described one of the officers who got a subpoena as a field training sergeant.

"When officer Noor went through field training a few years ago, it was on his shift. Since then this sergeant has had about a hundred people come through for a month or two on his shift," he said. "You don't remember them. You remember the really good ones and you remember the ones who struggled and maybe got washed out in training."

Noor fatally shot Ruszczyk from the passenger seat of his squad car through the driver's side window after he and his partner, officer Matthew Harrity, responded to a 911 call on July 15.

Ruszczyk, known professionally as Justine Damond, had called police to report that she thought she'd heard a woman yell for help outside her home in Minneapolis' Fulton neighborhood, telling the 911 operator she was worried someone was being attacked.

State investigators from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension took over the case following the shooting. On Sept. 12, the BCA said it had completed its investigation into the shooting and turned it over to Freeman to consider whether to charge Noor with a crime.

Ruszczyk's shooting death sent shock waves through the police force and the city that were felt across the country and the world to Australia, Ruszczyk's homeland. It led to the ouster of Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau.

Noor has declined to speak with investigators. Freeman has said that Harrity, Noor's partner who was driving the squad car at the time of the shooting, didn't provide enough information to bring charges.

Freeman had been expected to decide whether or not to charge Noor by the end of the year. The BCA turned over its findings to Freeman in September. Last month, however, Freeman said the probe would continue into 2018.

In mid-December, Freeman told a group of union members that he did not have enough evidence to decide yet whether to file charges against Noor and blamed BCA investigators for not doing their jobs.

He apologized for his BCA comments once they became public.

Freeman has said he, and not the grand jury, will decide ultimately whether to charge Noor.

• Ex-Minneapolis officer who killed 911 caller leaves prison
• Mohamed Noor, ex-Minneapolis officer who killed 911 caller, to be released
• Ex-cop Noor set for June release after resentence in Ruszczyk killing
• Ex-officer Noor seeks 41 months in 911 caller's death