The father of an Australian woman fatally shot by a Minneapolis police officer over the weekend called for justice on Tuesday hours after a local medical examiner ruled that her death was a homicide.
A Minneapolis police officer shot Justine Damond, originally from Sydney, through the door of a patrol car as she approached him and his partner in an alley near her home shortly before midnight on Saturday, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported, citing three unnamed sources.
Damond’s father, John Ruszczyk, told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday that her death was “our worst nightmare”.
“Justine was a beacon to all of us. We only ask that the light of justice shine down on the circumstances of her death,” he said.
The Hennepin County medical examiner said in a report issued on Monday evening that Damond died of a gunshot wound in the abdomen and concluded that her death was a homicide.
Authorities and activists on Monday questioned why Minneapolis police who fatally shot her did not have their body cameras turned on during the incident.
Justine Damond’s American fiance also wondered about the details of how she was shot. She had called the police to report a suspected sexual assault near her home, fiance Don Damond told reporters outside the home.
