Noor expands shooting defense claim

Police Shooting Minneapolis
Mohamed Noor, center, accompanied by his legal team, Peter Wold, left, and Tom Plunkett, arrive to attend a probable cause hearing Sept. 27, 2018.
Anthony Souffle | Star Tribune via AP 2018

Former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor plans to assert he was defending others when he shot Justine Ruszczyk in July of 2017, according to a court document filed Friday.

Noor's attorneys have amended the list of defenses he plans to rely on at trial to include the latest defense. Noor claims he was defending himself, using reasonable force and defending others, when he fatally shot Ruszczyk, who also goes by the surname Damond.

Noor is charged with second and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the shooting of Ruszczyk who had called 911 to report a possible assault in the alley behind her south Minneapolis home on July 15, 2017.

Although he has intended to plead not guilty in court records, Noor has not yet entered a plea.

Noor's defense attorneys plan to call three expert witnesses: private investigator William O'Keefe, of Minneapolis; use of force expert Emanuel Kapelsohn of Allentown, Pennsylvania; and clinical psychologist Matthew E. Guller, of Oakland, New Jersey.

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