The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff Reports

Posted: Monday, January 01, 2018 12:25 PM

Muslim Police Officer Shoots Australian Woman To Death After She Called 9-11 To Report Incident
An Australian woman engaged to marry an American next month was shot and killed by a Minneapolis cop, who is a Muslim according to sources, Saturday night after calling police to report an incident, leading her family and investigators to question what caused the deadly shooting.

The woman, identified as Justine Damond, 40, was killed in the late-night shooting in the city's Fulton neighborhood, Fox 9 reported. She reportedly had called to report an assault.

“Two Minneapolis police officers responded to a 911 call of a possible assault just north of the 5100 block of Washburn Avenue S. just before 11:30 p.m. Saturday,” the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said in a news release. "At one point, an officer fired their weapon, fatally striking a woman."

Police were trying to determine whether any video of the incident exists. The body cameras of the officers involved were not activated, according to police. No weapon was found at the scene.

Damond, an Australian national and instructor with the Lake Harriet Spiritual Community, was engaged to be married in August and has a son, according to Fox 9. Her fiance, identified by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, as Don Damond, was reportedly on his way home from a business trip.

Damond, whose maiden name was Ruszczyk but went by her fiance's last name, called police after hearing a sound in a nearby alley, according to their son, Zach Damond, 22.

“Basically, my mom’s dead because a police officer shot her for reasons I don’t know,” Zach Damond told the Star-Tribune. “I demand answers. If anybody can help, just call police and demand answers. I’m so done with all this violence.”