No One is Safe from the Police - Even a White, Attractive Blonde Female

Unarmed African Americans have been murdered by the police at an alarming rate. Yet no one has done much about this issue. Last month Philandro Castile's killer went free, despite all the evidence showing Castile was acting appropriately. Maybe the media will take notice of this problem now that a white, unarmed blonde woman was the victim of 'shoot first, ask questions later' cop.

Here's a photograph of her from her twitter page:

Justine Damond.png

Her crime? Calling 911 to report a possible assault in the alley outside her home. When two police officers arrived she was talking to them in her pajamas when she was shot.

Just before 11:30 p.m. Saturday, Damond, 40, called 911 to report a possible assault occurring in an alley near her home between Washburn and Xerxes avenues S., in the Fulton neighborhood.

Damond, in her pajamas, went to the driver’s side door of the responding squad and was talking to the officer, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the case.

Moments later, Noor shot across his partner from the passenger’s seat, killing Damond.

The officers wore bodycams, but they were not turned on, nor was their dashcam recorder on. We don't know why Officer Mohamed Noor, the cop who has been identified as the shooter used a shotgun to kill her, but we do know that her cell phone was found near her body. The neighborhood in which she lived was one of the safest on the city of Minneapolis. Wec also know Officer Noor never got out of his car before taking her life.

Three sources with knowledge of the incident said Sunday that two officers in one squad car, responding to the 911 call, pulled into the alley. Damond, in her pajamas, went to the driver’s side door and was talking to the driver. The officer in the passenger seat pulled his gun and shot Damond through the driver’s side door, sources said. No weapon was found at the scene.

Both cops have lawyered up. Noor was a two year veteran of the force. His partner had been a police officer for only one year. The Chief of the Minneapolis Police, Janeé Harteau, called in a state agency, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, to do an independent investigation of the shooting. This is the same agency that investigated Philandro Castile's homicide, which led to murder charges against Philandro's killer, Jeronimo Yanez. Sadly, despite the evidence that Yanez, in my opinion, acted extremely recklessly, at best, when he pumped seven shots into Mr. Castile while his girlfriend and her young daughter looked on in horror, a jury found Yanez not guilty of "second-degree manslaughter and two counts of intentional discharge of a firearm that endangers safety." Despite that verdict, the City of St. Anthony, Minnesota, who employed Yanez, quickly settled the family's wrongful death action for nearly $3 Million.

Ms. Damond had dual Australian and American citizenship because her father was born in America. She was about to be married. In Australia, the press is reacting with justifiable anger, as evidenced by this story in the Sydney tabloid, The Daily Telegraph, headlined "American Nighmare."

Justine Damond 2.png

It will be interesting to see how this case proceeds in light of the Castile case. Will the police defendants and the media try to smear her name and reputation as they did with Philandro Castile? Will the case go to trial when there is no video evidence? If it does, will Officer Noor get away with murder, or will the jury decide that, in this instance, unlike Officer Yanez, Noor had no reason to fear for his life when he pulled out a shotgun and fired across his partner sitting in the driver's seat at the unarmed Ms. Damond, striking her in the abdomen?

Inquiring minds want to know.

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Noor, who joined the Minneapolis Police in March 2015, has had three complaints made against him in two years - including a lawsuit.
Two are from 2017 and one from 2016 is closed and according to Lou Raguse of Kare 11 is marked 'not to be made public'.

The lawsuit stems from a police call on May 25, 2017, when Noor and two other officers took a woman to hospital and she claimed that they carried out false imprisonment, assault and battery.
According to the ongoing lawsuit, the woman claimed that Noor 'grabbed her right wrist and upper arm' when moving her.

Last year, Mayor Hodges wrote on her Facebook page that she 'wanted to take a moment to recognize Officer Mohamed Boor, the newest Somali officer in the Minneapolis Police Department.
'Officer Noor has been assigned to the 5th Precinct, where his arrival has been highly celebrated, particularly by the Somali community in and around Karmel Mall.'

His lawyer's statement in full is also printed in this article.

'Officer Noor extends his condolences to the family and anyone else who has been touched by this event. He takes their loss seriously and keeps them in his daily thoughts and prayers,' the statement read.

'He came to the United States at a young age and is thankful to have had so many opportunities. He takes these events very seriously because, for him, being a police officer is a calling.

'He joined the police force to serve the community and to protect the people he serves. Officer Noor is a caring person with a family he loves and he empathizes with the loss others are experiencing.

'The current environment for police is difficult, but Officer Noor accepts this as part of his calling. We would like to say more, and will in the future.

'At this time, however, there are several investigations ongoing and Officer Noor wants to respect the privacy to the family and asks the same in return during this difficult period.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4703892/Police-officer-shot-Just...

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

@dkmich This would have never happened had he not fired his shotgun over his partner point blank into a woman wearing a bathrobe and armed with a cell phone, who only wanted to do her duty and report a possible crime in her neighborhood.

Her stepson-to-be called it right: "America sucks."

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Creosote.'s picture

@SancheLlewellyn
rightly called it "Amurderca."

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BLM made a huge strategy mistake imo when they turned the injustice of the justice system into a black issue, e.g. ALM vs BLM. I do not dispute that blacks, native Americans, and the mentally ill are disproportionately represented in the numbers, but raw numbers and this story show white people are not protected by the color of their skin. When you take on the state's militarized policing system, you need all of the allies you can get. More people in the same boat the better.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

@dkmich
A better slogan would have been "Stop The Killing!"
It's catchy, right to the point, and indisputable.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@dkmich

I can only say it again, BLM made a huge strategy mistake imo when they turned the injustice of the justice system into a black issue, e.g. ALM vs BLM. I do not dispute that blacks, native Americans, and the mentally ill are disproportionately represented in the numbers, but raw numbers and this story show white people are not protected by the color of their skin.

And it does BLM (honest ones really fighting for the rights of black people) no good whatsoever to acquire the reputation of being Hillary Clinton's astroturf disrupters, but BLM definitely has that reputation today. And that means being ignored and despised -- exactly what activists against police abuses don't need at all!

When you take on the state's militarized policing system, you need all of the allies you can get. More people in the same boat the better.

Absolutely!

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

@thanatokephaloides It certainly seemed that way given how BLM treated Bernie vs. the way their representatives acted toward Hillary in NH. Also, turns out Hillary people knew the BLM people were coming up from Boston.

And then we were treated to the mothers and relatives of African Americans victims at the democratic convention nominating Hillary Clinton. They in their grief were simply used for cynical political reasons. Why? The DCCC was giving instructions to its supported candidates on how to marginalize BLM. Plus, the shooting down of innocent African Americas occurs regularly in democratic controlled cities, with the appropriate defense by the mayors and officials in charge. Democrats will do no different than republicans in this regard.

Minneapolis has a female democratic mayor and a democratic city council, and people still get gunned down. Look at deep blue Chicago with a total tradition of police violence. Police departments are out of control and no democratic mayor has the guts to fix the problem.

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@dkmich it's amazing how the Democratic party "pre-divides and conquers" itself.

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Progress!!

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

@UntimelyRippd

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

edg's picture

She had a cellphone in her hand and was wearing pajamas. Any reasonable killer, er, cop, would think she was a dangerous hombre holding a weapon and feel forced to gun her down.

[Groucho Marx: "One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I'll never know."]

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SparkyGump's picture

@edg
and she saw it. Turning off the dashcam makes no sense. There are no controls on police anymore. They can kill you in broad daylight with witnesses and get away with it. I don't expect Trump to do anything about it either. smh

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The real SparkyGump has passed. It was an honor being your human.

snoopydawg's picture

@SparkyGump I don't remember him bothering to address this issue after he said that Trayvon Martin could have been his son.
I guess all the other Blacks that were killed by the police couldn't have been like his family members. Sandra Bland could have been like his sister or daughter, but no, nuff said. She was arrested after she didn't signal while getting out of the way of a cop car that had its siren on, who was found hanging in her cell.
She had just been hired for a job and must have had every reason to kill herself, right?

Hell, Obama couldn't be bothered to address the unconstitutional police building in Chicago that held arrested people for weeks or longer without allowing them access to an attorney.

His silence on this history of the police getting away with murder is deafening. And deadly.

Maybe he was thinking that this would work for the police. Why not, it worked for the people who "tortured some folks"

IMG_0864_1.JPG

IMG_0953.JPG

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

SparkyGump's picture

@snoopydawg

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The real SparkyGump has passed. It was an honor being your human.

@snoopydawg Perhaps one of many? But anyway, he completely ignored pressing domestic issues in favor of foreign policy (somewhat) or just trying to make everybody like him. Police killings happened over and over on his watch, and yet, not a peep. Voter suppression spread throughout the country, and yet almost no action, despite the long term damage it will inflict on the party (and the nation). Even the Flint water contamination only brought a publicity stunt of drinking a glass of water, declaring victory, and going home. At least Hillary tried to help by helping bring the issue to our attention.

Pity Obama. He could have been such a great president.

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killed_by_police.jpg

People surprised by white people getting gunned down by cops haven't been paying attention.

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SnappleBC's picture

@gjohnsit

In fact my son disputes BLM. To support his point he sent me some actual research papers which all came to the same conclusion. Police definitely engage with bias towards minority communities but that bias becomes less the higher degree of force involved. So by the time you get to shootings there are no differences that can't be factored out reasonably.

None of those papers were what you'd call "propaganda in support of police". All of them concluded that there were substantial problems with policing minority communities but those problems were more at the "stop and frisk" level then the shooting level.

So BLM not only picked the wrong identity but also the wrong metric.

In today's day and age one might wonder why it isn't an automatic crime for police to kill a civilian without either body or dash cam footage -- any civilian.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

Meteor Man's picture

@gjohnsit @gjohnsit BLM was opposed to cops gunning down unarmed citizens of any race. They were unsurprisingly more upset at folks who were their friends neighbors and family members getting gunned down for no reason. Here in L.A. it was BLM that raised a stink when a white homeless man was shot by cops in Venice.

Just like incarceration, prisons hold larger numbers of whites, but a higher percentage of blacks.

Query: Why haven't white Americans been getting videos of white people getting gunned down by cops? I ask that in all seriousness, because I don't get it.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Hillbilly Dem's picture

The police shoot first, ask questions later. They are trained that way and have been for over 20 years. Members of my immediate family have instructed their children (most of those kids are now adults): DO NOT CALL THE COPS. It will only make things worse.

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"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey

Meteor Man's picture

@Hillbilly Dem and my buddy told them "My phone don't call cops." For exactly the reason you mentioned. Cops will usually cause more problems than they solve.

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"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn

Soldiers shoot up innocent people. Soldier is sent home. Family gets a settlement.

America. Cop shoots innocent person. Cop is sent home without an indictment. Family gets a settlement.

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Noor is a Somali Muslim. This seems to be missing from accounts of the incident. I live in Minneapolis so I get local coverage. I leave it to others to make their own judgement. I am wondering if there is a connection to possible outside influence on Noor.

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@Steve15

The brazen hussy infidel!

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

@Steve15 will try to spin this. Obviously we all need to buy more guns but how will they play the race angle? Will they simply blame Obama or Hillary (or George Soros)? Or finally admit that only "blue lives" matter?

I wonder how the Identity Politics Crusaders over at Daily Kos will untwist this one. At least they will condemn the killing, though someone will blame it on Bernie. Mark my words.

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Ravensword's picture

@SancheLlewellyn The killer cop in this instance is a black Muslim, and they'll just say that the Minneapolis PD needs to do more thorough background checks and more grueling tests for prospective candidates. Predictably, they'll say that the fact that he was a Muslim had almost everything to do with the shooting.

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@Ravensword I think you nailed it.

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@Steve15 Noor is apparently a dumbass with poor or no training. A shotgun from the passenger seat? Fucking hell. His ethnicity and religion don't concern me. You, however, seem concerned.

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Ravensword's picture

@peachcreek

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ggersh's picture

http://killedbypolice.net/

Killing of citizens is a feature, not a bug.

Will the insanity ever end?

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

SparkyGump's picture

@ggersh

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The real SparkyGump has passed. It was an honor being your human.

door at her, I guess he didn't worry so much about missing that shot and killing his partner? He's expendable too? Since when I'd like to know but maybe I just don't get it.

s/

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

@lizzyh7

If I was the cop in the driver's seat, I"d be pretty pissed off.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

@dkmich Probably stuck the muzzle out the window. Overkill squared.

I can't imagine him firing that thing from farther back. Then again, why would he fire it at all?

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Bollox Ref's picture

'There was a loud, scary noise, so we had to shoot her.' defence.

God knows what the police do when there's thunder and lightning.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

divineorder's picture

Heh.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-40639841

Mr Turnbull described it as the most significant reform of national security arrangements "in more than 40 years".

"The new portfolio will be similar to the United Kingdom's Home Office arrangement, a federation, if you will, of border and security agencies," he told reporters on Tuesday.

"Let me be quite clear, this is not a United States-style Department of Homeland Security."

In explaining the distinction, Mr Turnbull said each agency will "retain their current statutory independence".

"Not least because our adversaries are agile and nimble, constantly adapting and evolving to defeat our defences. We need more enduring and better integrated arrangements."

He said he expects the ministry overhaul will be completed by July next year.

On Monday, Mr Turnbull announced the Australian military would be given broad new powers to respond to domestic terrorist attacks.

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

but it didn't fit the dominant narrative of "cops only ever want to murder black or brown people."

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver