MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - No charges will be filed against Brooklyn Center police in the fatal shooting of a 21-year-old man last year, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Wednesday.
Prosecutors concluded that the two officers who fired six shots at Kobe Dimock-Heisler had a “reasonable fear” that two other officers and Dimock-Heisler’s grandmother were in danger, Freeman said in a news release.
Dimock-Heisler’s parents held a news conference Wednesday along with a citizens coalition formed to combat police violence to demand an independent prosecutor and investigation, the Star Tribune reported.
His mother, Amity Dimock-Heisler, said police escalated the situation and “ended up putting my son down like an animal.”
Freeman said the four officers who responded used de-escalation tactics and seemed to have calmed Dimock-Heisler before he grabbed a knife and tried to stab one of the officers. Three officers fired their Tasers, without effect, before Dimock-Heisler was shot, Freeman said.
Two officers each fired their guns three times, striking Dimock-Heisler in the chest and neck.
The incident started when Dimock-Heisler, who had mental illness and was on the autism spectrum, went to a fast food restaurant with his grandfather in August 2019 and became angry when an employee got their order wrong. His grandfather told Dimock-Heisler to stop yelling. When they arrived home, Dimock-Heisler grabbed a knife and a hammer and told his grandfather to apologize for what he said at the restaurant. The grandfather called 911, according to the prosecutors’ report.
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