Ex-Minneapolis Somali Muslim officer who killed Justine Damond sentenced to 12.5 years

Mohamed Noor, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted in the fatal shooting of an Australian woman who called 911 for help, was sentenced Friday to 12 1/2 years in prison.

Noor, 33, fatally shot Justine Ruszczyk Damond, on July 15, 2017, after Noor and his partner responded to Damond’s call to report that she thought a woman was being sexually assaulted.

Noor testified at the trial that he heard a bang on the side of the driver’s side of the squad car and thought Damond, a 40-year-old dual citizen of the United States and Australia, was a threat.

But a jury in late April convicted Noor of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The jury found the former police officer not guilty of the top charge of second-degree murder.

Damond, a life coach, was to be married and had already taken the last name of her fiancé, Don Damond.