In the Justine Damond case, the ex-Minneapolis police officer accused of murder in her shooting death last year plans to enter a not guilty plea, claiming that he acted in self-defense when the woman came upon the police SUV he was in, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
The attorneys for Mohamed Noor will claim that the officer used "reasonable force" when he fired on the unarmed Damond, 40, who had initially called police for assistance, according to court filings Wednesday, the newspaper noted.
Prosecutors charged Noor with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the case, the Star Tribune said. Damond, a spiritual healer from Australia, called 911 to report a possible sexual assault behind her home.
Noor and partner Matthew Harrity drove through the alley behind Damond's home and found no activity, the Star Tribune reported. Harrity, the driver of the police vehicle, had told investigators that he was "spooked" when Damond came to the door of the vehicle and Noor fired his weapon out the driver's side window, the newspaper reported.
But Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman charged that Noor, 32, acted "recklessly" when he fired the shot that killed Damond, the Star Tribune wrote.
"(Noor) recklessly and intentionally fire his handgun from the passenger seat in disregard for human life," Freeman said, according to The Australian. "There is no evidence that officer Noor encountered a threat, appreciated a threat, investigated a threat and confirmed a threat that justified his decision to use deadly force.
"A person sitting in a passenger seat of a squad car takes a gun, hears a noise, maybe sees some object ... he reaches across in front of his partner, shoots a gun at an object that he can't see. That's evidence of a depraved mind in my view," Freeman continued.
The Star Tribune wrote that neither officer had their body cameras activated and Noor has declined to speak with state investigators or a grand jury investigating Damond's death.
The case sparked outrage among some Australians about police behavior in American while others pointed to racial overtones, questioning whether prosecutors would have pursued the case similarly if the races were reversed, the Star Tribune wrote. Damond is white and Noor is black, the newspaper noted.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.