A white Minneapolis man accused of shooting and critically injuring his Black neighbor had made a series of threats against the victim that critics say were ignored by police.
Minneapolis Police Department Chief Brian O’Hara admitted as much Monday, telling reporters, “Yes, we failed this victim — he should not have been shot.”
John Herbert Sawchak, 54, was arrested earlier Monday and charged with attempted second-degree murder following an extended standoff with MPD’s SWAT unit in connection to allegedly shooting his neighbor, Davis Moturi, 34, in the neck five days earlier. Moturi was pruning a tree that Sawchak had planted with his mother when the suspect started shooting from his upstairs window.
The previous week, according to The Minneapolis Star Tribune, Sawchak allegedly pointed a gun at Moturi and told him, “Touch my tree again, and I will shoot you,” according to the criminal complaint.
Moturi sustained a fractured spine, two broken ribs and a concussion.
He had contacted police several times since April about harassment from Sawchak. O’Hara said police resisted arresting him because he was considered high-risk because he has a history of mental illness and possessed firearms.
Police made multiple attempts to contact Sawchak since April and had conducted surveillance on the suspect, the chief added.
“But I will say this, we had no reason to suspect that he would shoot the neighbor from inside the house,” O’Hara added.
That contradicts the department’s warnings, in warrant fliers plastered on neighborhood telephone poles earlier this year, that Sawchak should be considered “armed and dangerous,” the Star-Tribune reports. Residents were advised to call 911 should they see him.
The Moturis did so several times. The victim’s wife, Caroline Moturi, writing on GoFundMe, said police were indifferent to the “living nightmare” that followed their moving in next door to Sawchak 13 months ago.
“Shortly after moving in our neighbor began harassing us, threatening us, and stalking us. Despite multiple calls to the police for help we were consistently informed nothing could be done,” Carolina Moturi wrote. “At one point, an officer who responded to our distress told us to ‘just move out.’ “
Carolina Moturi said Sawchak had previously threatened her husband, who was on a 10-foot ladder at the time, with a gardening tool. In another incident, Sawchak chased her husband with a shovel, she said.
“Despite these frequent acts of violence, a warrant was only issued when I, his white wife, reported I was being verbally threatened,” Carolina Moturi said.
Davis Moturi has been released from the hospital and is expected to recover.
“I can’t bring myself to think of where we would be had the angle of the bullet been slightly different,” she wrote. “My husband is alive with no thanks to the MPD or Mayor Jacob Frey.”
The Minneapolis City Council has condemned law enforcement’s handling of the situation, blasting its failure to protect a resident “from a clear, persistent and amply reported threat posed by his neighbor.”
“Our Chief of Police is hiding behind excuses, and our Mayor … is just hiding,” Council Member Emily Koski wrote on X.
O’Hara defended his department against allegations of indifference, though he did strike a more conciliatory tone than expressed last Friday when he accused the victim of escalating the situation by cutting the tree.
Sawchak surrendered outside his home around 1:30 a.m. after a five-hour standoff in which a negotiator used a loudspeaker to urge him to leave his residence, and police threatened the use of gas.
“The Minneapolis police somehow did not act urgently enough to prevent that individual from being shot,” the chief said Monday. “And to that victim, I say I am sorry that this happened to you.”
Police monitored the residence after the shooting, waiting for Sawchak to emerge.
Police sat and watched over the residence for several days this weekend, O’Hara said, waiting for him to emerge. They were trying to avoid a violent confrontation that may have led to the use of deadly force, he said.
Sunday evening, police cordoned off the area and called in a SWAT negotiator. As drones circled Sawchak’s home, police busted out windows and delivered a cellphone for the suspect to use to communicate with them.
Finally, they announced their intention to teargas his residence, leading Sawchak to surrender.
Despite his arrest, Carolina Moturi said she and her husband haven’t returned to their home.
“We have reached the point where we need everyone to be outraged with us and demand action,” she said. “How many times does the country need to see the justice system fail Black men before the system changes?”
