We ‘100% failed’: Black man shot and killed by white neighbor

To Daniel Johnson

October 29, 2024

Minnesota officials, including Minnesota State Senator Omar Fateh, have accused police of failing to act.

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The Minneapolis Police Department has apologized for failing to adequately respond to 34-year-old Davis Moturi’s repeated complaints of racist harassment by his white neighbor, John Herbert Sawchak.

According to GuardianOn October 23, Moturi was attacked by Sawchak, who shot Moturi, causing him to suffer a broken spine, two broken ribs and a concussion. A day later, criminal charges were filed against Savchak, but officers waited until October 28 to arrest him.

Brian O’Hara, the department’s police chief, apologized to reporters.

“We failed this sacrifice 100%,” O’Hara said. “And to that victim I say: I’m sorry this happened to you.”

The Moturi shooting followed the conclusion of a Justice Department investigation that suggested the Minneapolis Police Department allegedly had a “pattern or practice” of discriminating against black Americans.

Moturi bought his home in 2023, and since then he or his wife have reportedly called the department at least 19 times to report vandalism, property destruction, harassment and threats of physical harm, as well as allegations he made racist insults.

After police failed to arrest Sawchak three times, he allegedly shot Moturi in the neck from an upstairs window of his home while Moturi was using a chainsaw to trim a tree near his property line that Sawchak had allegedly planted with his mother, according to O’Hara.

Police explained the five-day wait to arrest Sawchak by saying they wanted to arrest him peacefully because they knew he had a gun and was mentally ill.

Minnesota officials, including Minnesota State Senator Omar Fateh, accused police of inaction. “Despite three warrants, MPD ignored his pleas, highlighting racial disparities. I demand an independent investigation and accountability,” Fateh wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, posting an image of his official statement regarding the police department.

“The shooting of Davis Moturi is a tragic and deeply troubling failure of our public safety system. Mr. Moturi and his family repeatedly sought protection from law enforcement, reporting escalating harassment, racially motivated threats, and harassment from a neighbor. warrants for his arrest,” Fateh said in an official statement.

Fateh continued: “The Minneapolis Police Department’s refusal to make an arrest on the grounds that it wanted to avoid a violent conflict stands in stark contrast to other cases in which black men were killed by MPD officers where the suspects were not mentally ill and alternatives were offered. , in fact, there is, as in the shooting of Amir Locke, which was the result of an unhindered raid on three separate apartments in search of the killer. It wasn’t considered too dangerous back then. What’s so special about this business?”

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