On Wednesday night, news broke that a police officer shot and killed a man in south Minneapolis, renewing protests against police violence.
Key details remain scant as the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension begins its investigation into the case. Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said the incident was captured on body-worn cameras and, in an unusually quick timeline for this department, he released the footage Thursday afternoon "to further aid efforts in understanding and fostering transparency." according to his spokesperson.
The shooting occurred around 6:15 p.m. at a Holiday Gas station near 36th Street and S. Cedar Avenue.
A 27-second clip of the shooting, posted to the city's website late Thursday afternoon, shows police vehicles flashing their lights and boxing in a white sedan. An officer pointing a gun at the car shouts for the driver to "stop your car," identifying himself as a police officer and commanding "hands up." The driver attempts to peel away, but the other squads obstruct the car. The driver shoots through the window at police, with a bullet appearing to narrowly miss the officer. The officer shouts an expletive and he and another officer return fire. Over a dozen shots are fired in the parking lot of the gas station, and cars can be seen at the pumps in the background.
The man killed was identified by his father as 23-year-old Dolal Idd on Thursday afternoon. Sources identified the officers involved as Darcy Klund, Paul Huynh and Jason Schmidt. Klund, a department veteran and longtime homicide detective, now runs the First Precinct Community Response Team, which initiated the traffic stop. The officers and a female passenger in the vehicle were not harmed, said Arradondo.
Community Response Teams, or CRTs, police quality of life issues, such as drugs and other street-level crimes. These teams investigate "crime patterns, such as the recent spate of car jackings in Minneapolis, said police spokesman John Elder.
The events leading up to the confrontation are still unknown. Police say the officers pulled the car over for a "felony stop," language that could be key to the BCA's investigation. The term implies the person was suspected — but not convicted — of a felony-level crime, and Minneapolis police policy cites deadly force may be authorized to stop a suspect "whom the peace officer knows or has reasonable grounds to believe has committed or attempted to commit a felony and the officer reasonably believes that the person will cause death or great bodily harm to another person under the threat criteria in clause."
But the loose term is used liberally by Minneapolis police to describe a variety of scenarios, said Mary Moriarty, Hennepin County's outgoing-chief public defender. "Until they explain, or people can see what that meant, it doesn't make any sense to try to guess," she said.
In a press conference after the release of the footage, Arradondo said the stop was related to a weapons investigation.
Andy Mannix • 612-673-4036
