Minneapolis police officers cleared in shooting of armed man
Updated: 5:23 p.m.
Eight Minneapolis police officers who fired their guns that killed an armed man outside a home during a domestic disturbance and one officer who fired a nonlethal round have been cleared of wrongdoing, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Monday.
Freeman said in a release that an investigation showed that 52-year-old Chiasher Vue posed a clear danger when he fired his rifle on the night of Dec. 15, 2019, drawing a barrage of shots from officers on the scene.
“In this situation, the officers at the scene knew that Chiasher Vue had fired shots inside his house, scaring his children,” Freeman wrote. “When he stuck his head outside the porch door, it appeared he was going to surrender. But when he went back inside, grabbed his gun, and pointed it at officers, he had escalated the situation and the nine officers were presented with a clear threat of immediate great bodily harm or death.”
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said one of Vue's children called the police saying his father was drunk, had untreated mental illness and had fired a gun in the house. And the agency noted Minneapolis police used Hmong-speaking officers to try and communicate with Vue and tell him to drop his rifle and leave the home. When he came out, an officer fired a nonlethal round at Vue. Within seconds, shots were fired by officers and Vue.
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Investigators say Vue fired at officers before he was fatally wounded by the return fire. Dozens of shots were fired, damaging several vehicles and two homes.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner determined Vue was struck by 13 bullets. An autopsy also showed that Vue's blood alcohol level was .20, more than twice the legal limit for driving.
Freeman also extended sympathies to Vue’s family and called the incident a “tragedy.”
One of the police body camera videos released by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office captures the sound of an officer next to a squad car saying “get down, get down,” shortly before a burst of gunfire.
Freeman said the officers took numerous steps to avert the outcome.
“Under the totality of the circumstances, the use of deadly force by the officers was necessary, proportional to the threat and objectively reasonable,” Freeman said.