Hundreds call for justice for Dolal Idd at Minneapolis rally, march
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Hundreds of people gathered in south Minneapolis on Sunday to call for answers and justice in the wake of last week's fatal police shooting of Dolal Idd.
Idd's parents and other relatives joined the crowd that gathered at the shooting scene, a gas station at the corner of Cedar Avenue and East 36th Street, before marching through the neighborhood and chanting “justice for Dolal.”
Speakers renewed calls for accountability for police. The shooting was the city’s first police killing since the death of George Floyd on May 25. Floyd’s killing, less than a mile from where Idd was shot, set off a worldwide movement focused on race and police brutality.
"I need your help," Idd's father, Bayle Adod Gelle, told the crowd Sunday. "We have a lot of pain (in) the Black community, minority community — they kill every day our kids, no reason. This is unacceptable. Frankly I need your help until, at last, the day we get the justice. ... Please never give up."
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Idd, 23, was fatally shot Wednesday evening. Police have said they were executing a traffic stop tied to a weapons investigation, but offered few other details on what led up to the shooting. On Thursday, Minneapolis police released a short body camera video clip that they say shows Idd firing a weapon at officers, before they returned fire. Police say they recovered a weapon at the scene.
“Should the officers not react in a deadly force situation, and knowing that community members' lives were at stake as well?” police Chief Medaria Arradondo told reporters Thursday. “The officers are trained to protect community members' lives and their own."
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is handling the investigation, and as of Sunday night had not released any further details.
Idd's family and some community leaders have raised questions about what the body camera video shows, and doubts about the police narrative in general.
Authorities' treatment of Idd's family after the shooting also has drawn criticism. The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office executed a search warrant at the family's Eden Prairie home about eight hours after Idd died. Adults and young children were in the home when SWAT team members entered just after 2:15 a.m.
"I thought they were going to kill us," Gelle told Sahan Journal. He said authorities did not tell him his son was dead until they were done at the home.
Hennepin County Sheriff David Hutchinson on Saturday released a 28-minute body camera video of the search, saying he believes the video shows deputies "acted appropriately, respectfully, and followed HCSO procedure for high-risk warrants."
But that video has drawn criticism. State Rep. Hodan Hassan told Sahan Journal that deputies in the video showed a lack of cultural sensitivity and compassion.
At Sunday's rally, Jaylani Hussein of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said authorities "had the audacity to share another edited video of how they terrorize a family, how they terrorize a disabled child, how they terrorize the family and treated them as if they were going into a military operation."
State Sen.-elect Omar Fateh of Minneapolis urged the crowd to maintain calls for police accountability and keep up pressure on elected officials, particularly as Minneapolis city officials debate future funding for the Police Department.
Fateh called it a fight for the children and future of the community.
"This fight is not just a one-day thing," he said. "We don't need you just to show up. We need you to be loud. ... I need you to be loud. We need to show up today, tomorrow. Show up at the Capitol. If folks in the City Council are not standing up to MPD, vote them the hell out."
In an interview Sunday with MPR News, Gov. Tim Walz said he believes state authorities are determined to conduct a fair investigation while being as transparent as they can.
“Any time you have something like this it’s tragic,” he said. “Why was someone shooting at the police? Why do we have a fatality? BCA, which is involved in any officer-involved shooting, is doing this (investigation). Again, as far as expectations on speed, it used to be months before you'd see body cam footage. Now it’s hours.”
Walz said he understands that people are upset about fatal police encounters. But he said not every situation involving police use of force should be viewed the same.