An Australian woman due to get married next month was shot dead by a US
police officer after she called 911 to report a possible assault outside
her home.
Justine Damond, 40, went outside in her pyjamas after police arrived and
was shot through the door of a squad car by an officer seated inside
the vehicle, it was claimed.
The officer's body camera was not turned on at the time, raising questions from the woman's family and Minneapolis' mayor.
Ms Damond was killed outside the home she shared with her fiance, Don Damond, and was preparing for their wedding in August.
The bride-to-be, who used her fiance's surname despite not yet being
married, wrote online that she was working as a spiritual healer and
meditation coach, but was also a trained veterinarian.
Ms Damond was fatally shot in an alley behind her home at about 11.30pm on Saturday night.
Dressed in her pyjamas, the woman was talking to an officer in the
driver's seat of the police car when the officer in the passenger seat
pulled out his gun and shot her through the driver's side door, sources
told the Star-Tribune.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), which is
investigating the incident, said two officers responded to “a call of
possible assault" when “at one point an officer fired their weapon,
fatally striking a woman".
The BCA added that the officers’ body cameras weren’t during on at the time of the incident and that they are investigating.
The squad car's camera did not capture the incident in the 5100 block of
Washburn Avenue South, in Minneapolis' upscale Fulton neighbourhood.
Ms Damond's family have demanded answers and the city's mayor has said she was "deeply disturbed" by the incident.
The BCA said of its investigation: "More information will be available
once initial interviews with incident participants and any witnesses are
complete.
"The officers' body cameras were not turned on at the time and the squad camera did not capture the incident.
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