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A community meeting is planned for this week to discuss how the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigates police shootings.

The meeting comes in the wake of the fatal police shooting of Thurman Blevins in Minneapolis last month.

The BCA often investigates officer-involved shootings across the state, but has 

 following Blevins' death by some who say they don't trust the agency to conduct the investigation. Some critics have called for an out-of-state, independent, third-party agency to investigate the shooting.

While the BCA cannot talk about an open investigation, a spokesperson for the agency confirmed on Saturday that superintendent Drew Evans is working with the Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage to set up a meeting to discuss the process the BCA uses for investigating police shootings.

Justin Terrell, executive director of the Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage, told MPR News that details of the meeting will be released on Monday.

Meanwhile, funeral arrangements have been set for Blevins. The 31-year-old man, who was black, was shot and killed by Minneapolis police on June 23.

Services will be held next Saturday, July 14, at 11 a.m. at Faith Deliverance Holiness Church in Minneapolis.

The shooting death of Thurman Blevins

Minneapolis police have said they got a 911 call on the night of the fatal shooting reporting a man was firing a gun into the air. Some witnesses have disputed police accounts.

Two Minneapolis police officers are on standard paid administrative leave while the BCA conducts its investigation.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has pledged to make the officers' body camera videos public when it will not interfere with the BCA's investigation.

On Saturday, two weeks after the shooting, the mayor's office said it is still unsure when body camera video footage of the incident will be released.

A spokesman for the mayor said he doesn't know how far along the BCA is in its investigation into the shooting. But he said the mayor will release the video once each witness is interviewed and after the Blevins family decides how they want to view the footage before anyone else.

Crime, Law and Justice

Social Issues

Nina Moini

Author

While the BCA cannot talk about an open investigation, a spokesperson for the agency confirmed on Saturday that superintendent Drew Evans is working with the Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage to set up a meeting to discuss the process the BCA uses for investigating police shootings.


Police investigate the scene of an officer-involved shooting. 

Aaron Lavinsky | Star Tribune via AP

Thurman Moore, the father of Thurman Blevins, stopped by the protest.

Christopher Juhn for MPR News

A member of the BCA walks a woman across police lines.

BCA to take part in community meeting in wake of Minneapolis police shooting

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