Partner of cop Charged in Minneapolis Shooting Takes Stand

(Courtesy: Fox 9/Cedric Hohnstadt)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The partner of a former Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an unarmed woman says he was startled by a thump on the officers’ squad car and feared a possible ambush.

Officer Matthew Harrity is a key witness at the trial of Mohamed Noor. Noor killed Justine Ruszczyk Damond with a single shot as she approached the officers’ squad car in July 2017. Damond was a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia who had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home.

Defense attorneys have said Noor was reacting to a noise and feared an ambush when he fired his weapon.

Harrity was driving the police SUV. In his testimony Thursday, he described a glimpse of something to his left, then hearing something hitting the car and “some sort of murmur.”

He said he immediately drew his gun. Harrity said that’s when Noor fired.