After yet another officer-involved shooting in the Twin Cities, a Minnesota resident has taken it upon him- or herself to warn residents of potential gunfire if they make any loud noises.
City Pages reports:
Minnesota’s developing a reputation it doesn’t want: As a place where cops are too quick to grab a firearm and pull the trigger.
As of this past weekend, an industrious vandal is trying to warn the locals about the very people they’ve hired to protect them.
Around midday on Sunday, Addy Free was returning home from his work as an assistant registrar at Macalester College in St. Paul. Free had just stepped off a bus when he spotted what appeared to be an official traffic sign… until he got a closer look.
Another sign was spotted in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, the Star Tribune reports.
A spokesman for the Minneapolis Police Department said they were aware of the signs, and had no comment.
On July 15, 2017, Officer Mohamed Noor shot and killed unarmed Australian woman Justine Damond after she called police to report a possible sexual assault in her neighborhood. Noor, who also has two open complaints against him, has since lawyered up and has refused to speak to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Damond, 40, was shot at close range when Noor aimed his firearm through the window of the squad car as she stood next to the police vehicle.
Noor’s partner, Matthew Harrity, told investigators that a “loud sound” in the alley had startled him just before Noor shot and killed Damond.
Just days later, authorities released video from Minneapolis Police Officer Michael Mays’ body camera which showed him shooting two dogs in a North Minneapolis residential backyard as he responded to a home alarm on Saturday, July 8, 2017. Fortunately, both dogs lived and the city has since ‘offered to help’ with the owner’s vet bills.
While the signs will surely be taken down by authorities, I’m quite sure the warning will remain in the minds of Minnesotans for months to come.
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