MINNEAPOLIS (AP) 鈥� Members of a U.S. Marshals Service task force will not be charged in the ., a Black man who was killed while authorities were trying to arrest him as he sat in an SUV at a Minneapolis parking ramp, a prosecutor announced Monday.
Crow Wing County Attorney Don Ryan said in letters dated last Wednesday that the task force members were justified in using deadly force when they shot Smith on June 3 as they tried to detain him for allegedly 小蓝视频 a felon in possession of a firearm. The central Minnesota prosecutor reviewed the case because prosecutors in the Twin Cities area had conflicts of interest and the Hennepin County Attorney鈥檚 Office announced the decision Monday.
Ryan said task force members were identifiable as law enforcement, told Smith he was under arrest and ordered him out of the vehicle. Ryan said Smith didn鈥檛 comply and as task force members tried to enter the SUV, 鈥淪mith initiated a deadly force confrontation ... by drawing his handgun and firing.鈥�
鈥淭hough I am unable to determine who fired first, it is irrelevant in this case,鈥� Ryan wrote. 鈥淥nce an individual initiates a deadly force confrontation, a law enforcement officer does not have to wait to be shot/shot at before reacting.鈥� He said task force members鈥� actions were reasonable, justified and 鈥渋n response to an apparent threat of death or great bodily harm.鈥�
Smith, 32, of St. Paul, was in a parked SUV when he was shot. The U.S. Marshals Service said at the time that he didn鈥檛 comply and 鈥減roduced a handgun resulting in task force members firing."
Ryan said the task force used lights and sirens as they boxed in the SUV, wore clearly marked tactical vests and gave numerous commands for Smith to keep his hands visible as he did something with his phone. Ryan said Smith didn't comply for 鈥渟everal minutes." As law enforcement began to break a window, Smith looked at them 鈥渨ith a look of annoyance/disgust on his face."
Ryan said Smith then dropped his phone, twisted his body and leaned into the back seat. He was told to stop reaching and recoiled into the driver's seat when a task force member yelled 鈥渄on't do it,鈥� then 鈥済un, gun, gun," Ryan wrote. That task force member then fired at Smith. Another pulled a handgun and began firing.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office said Smith was shot multiple times.
Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and an activist against police violence, said he鈥檚 not surprised. 鈥淭here is absolutely no confidence that county prosecutors can fully bring forth justice against law enforcement,鈥� he said.
A woman who was in the SUV with Smith has said through her attorneys that law enforcement officers were not in uniform and when they surrounded the SUV with guns drawn. Norhan Askar also said that she never saw a gun on Smith or in his vehicle, and that he was shot after he raised a cellphone to begin recording.
Ryan said a handgun, and six spent cartridge cases that came from that weapon, were found inside the vehicle. Tests showed bullet fragments also had been fired from that gun.
Minneapolis was already on edge following the more than a year earlier, and the by an officer in nearby Brooklyn Center in April. Smith鈥檚 death led to protests in Minneapolis鈥� Uptown neighborhood, including one in which a woman was killed when a man who was visibly intoxicated drove into protesters.
Authorities said at the time there was no video of the shooting, and the lack of body camera footage raised questions as Smith鈥檚 . Local officials said the deputies on the task force were assigned body cameras, but were told by the U.S. Marshals Service that they could not use them, despite an October 2020 change in Justice Department policy that would have allowed their use.
But Ryan wrote that there is body camera footage of Askar, recorded immediately after the shooting. Ryan said Askar said in the video it 鈥渉appened really fast where a bunch of officers came out of nowhere鈥� and told them to put their hands up. In the video, described by Ryan, Askar said she put her hands up and pleaded with Smith to do the same, but Smith would not, saying he did not want to go back to jail and he was 鈥済oing to die.鈥�
Ryan said Askar also gave a statement to state investigators saying she did not remember seeing a gun in Smith鈥檚 vehicle.
The task force members who shot Smith included a Ramsey County Sheriff鈥檚 deputy and a Hennepin County Sheriff鈥檚 deputy. Their names were not released because .
Amy Forliti, The Associated Press
