Ex-Cop Who Fatally Shot Unarmed 911 Caller Gets 57 Months in Prison After Murder Conviction Tossed

A former Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an unarmed woman had his prison sentence reduced on a lesser charge of manslaughter after his murder conviction was tossed out. Mohamed Noor fatally shot Justine Ruszczyk Damond, 40, as he responded to her 911 call in 2017. He had his third-degree murder conviction and subsequent 12-and-a-half-year sentence overturned by the Minnesota Supreme Court last month, their ruling stating that Noor hadn’t displayed the statute’s necessary “generalized indifference to human life.”

Damond’s parents, in a statement read by prosecutors, called the qualification part of a “poorly written law” and asked the judge to still impose the longest-possible sentence. She granted their request, despite the defense’s presentation of Noor’s good behavior behind bars thus far. If he maintains his conduct, Noor—possibly the first Minnesota officer convicted of murder for an on-duty shooting—could be freed on supervised release as early as next summer.

Damond had called 911 to report a possible rape happening behind her home. Noor shot her, he testified in 2019, after she appeared in front of his partner’s window as the officers’ vehicle crawled down an alley. The outrage over her death led to the resignation of Minneapolis’ police chief and a departmental policy change on body cameras.