Two Minnesota State Police snipers not prosecuted shot dead a black man in the middle of a mental health crisis in July.
Hennepin County Attorney’s Office announced When they shot 20-year-old Andrew “Tekle” Sandberg on July 14, after a lengthy standoff in Minneapolis, SWAT officers Aaron Pearson and Zachary Seraphine said, “All of the deadly use of force statutes. Wednesday’s decision to conform to the ‘elements’.
“Mr Sandberg’s death was a tragedy,” Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said. Said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to Mr. Sandberg’s family and friends. Those suffering from a mental health crisis are vulnerable and to those at risk and their encounters with law enforcement. Special care must be taken, and in this case, as tragic as it is, the use of lethal force by police officers was legally permissible under Minnesota law.”
The young man’s family was devastated by the news.
“Our hearts are broken,” said his mother, Cindy Sandberg. told Minneapolis star tribune“We were trying so hard to get through the Tekle-free vacation and make it all together and special for our grandchildren and family. But they added yet another layer to our grief. I decided to add… It’s like they pulled the scab out of our wound and cut around it and made it deeper… Trauma reborn and intensified This will be our new Christmas memory. ”
Police arrived at Sandberg’s apartment on July 14 and received a report from his unit that gunshots had been fired into a neighboring apartment.
Officers spent hours trying to persuade Sandberg. yelling threats Leave the building peacefully like “I am an international terrorist”.
According to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, two snipers saw Sandberg approach an apartment window with a gun and smash through glass that had already been broken by shots from officers early in the standoff. .
“In that very moment [Officer Seraphine] pulled the trigger [he] The lives and safety of all civilians and officers in the area were threatened,” an office report on the shooting said. read“This was a very dangerous situation and the threat had to be stopped. [he] Any hesitation could have seriously injured or killed anyone in the area. “
Sundberg’s family said police had promised not to shoot the 20-year-old boy and did not allow him access to his relatives.
“The police and the mayor portray us as if we worked together. The police were kind and loving to our family who tried to help Tekur,” Cindy Sandberg said. increase. told independent reporter Georgia Fort This is a video after shooting. “That’s a lie. They weren’t.”
Samberg, who is white and adopted Andrew from Ethiopia, believes his son would still be alive if he weren’t black.
“If there were white people in that building, they would have spoken to him and waited,” she added in the video.
While high-profile police shootings in the region, such as the 2020 George Floyd murder and the 2021 Dante shooting, are typically left to outside prosecutors, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office handles cases internally. The decision not to file charges is noteworthy, as it was handled by light.
