O’Hara promises review of MPD’s actions ahead of Grand Avenue shooting
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A Minneapolis man who was shot and wounded — allegedly by a neighbor with a history of mental illness and making threats — said police failed to take action before the confrontations escalated. The suspected shooter, John Sawchak, had been the subject of restraining orders dating back more than a decade by other neighbors who alleged harassment and bizarre behavior.
On Oct. 23, Davis Moturi, 34, was trimming a tree along the property line he shares with Sawchak on Grand Avenue South in Minneapolis when Sawchak allegedly shot Moturi in the neck. Doctors found a bullet lodged near his spine and two broken ribs. Moturi, who is able to walk, has left the hospital and is recovering at home.
Prosecutors said the shooting followed months of harassment by Sawchak. In the year since they bought their home, Moturi and his wife Caroline reported at least 19 incidents of vandalism, property damage and threats — including death threats.
Moturi, who is Black, recounted in a restraining order petition in April that Sawchak, who’s white, made racist comments and threw objects at him and had previously attacked him with a garden tool. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged Sawchak with felony threats this summer after he allegedly told Moturi in early July: “I should have killed you last night.”
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“My husband is alive with no thanks to the MPD,” Caroline Moturi wrote on her GoFundMe page.
Council member Emily Koski echoed that criticism, saying that police failed to act soon enough.
“I understand that this is complex, and that there are no easy answers. But in this situation, there had to be somewhere in between doing nothing and an extreme,” Koski said.
Prosecutors charged Sawchak again on Thursday, this time with attempted murder, assault, stalking and bias-motivated harassment. At a news conference Friday — nearly three days before the arrest — Police Chief Brian O’Hara said officers had tried to contact Sawchak multiple times but couldn’t.
O’Hara said Friday that officers wanted to arrest Sawchak sooner but treaded carefully — not only to avoid a dangerous situation — but also out of fear that they might be prosecuted if something went wrong. Then Sunday evening — hours before the arrest — O’Hara apologized to Moturi.
“We failed this victim 100 percent because that should not have happened to him,” O’Hara said. “The Minneapolis police somehow did not act urgently enough to prevent that individual from being shot. And to that victim, I say I am sorry.”
O’Hara said investigators were aware of Sawchak’s mental illness and that he had access to firearms. According to a 2016 civil commitment order, Sawchak suffers from schizophrenia, paranoid personality disorder and bipolar disorder and “poses a substantial likelihood of causing physical harm.”
The Moturis are only the latest neighbors to seek court-ordered protection from Sawchak. Carole Megarry, who shares an alley with him, requested two restraining orders: in 2016 when he repeatedly videotaped Megarry walking her dog and again in 2022 when Megarry said Sawchak became violent.
“He came after me with a stick. And I’m not talking a 12-inch stick. I’m talking a four-foot piece of lumber. And he hit me in the upper arm,” Megarry said.
The 77-year-old retired attorney fell to the ground and hurt her hand. Prosecutors charged Sawchak with misdemeanor assault. But court records show that he failed to appear at a hearing in early 2023.
Prosecutors again sought his arrest. But despite the stack of criminal complaints against him, Sawchak wouldn’t be in handcuffs until 1:30 a.m. Monday, when he surrendered to an MPD SWAT team.
In a statement Monday afternoon, O’Hara promised a full review of the circumstances that led to the shooting of Moturi and the department’s response to the threats against him.
David Harris, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law who studies police use of force, said that because of the history of alleged threats by Sawchak, there was no legal reason for officers not to arrest him sooner.
“What we know is that there was enough of a basis for action to be taken before it was, and the result of not acting has been that another citizen — the danger to him was not addressed — and he was injured and could have been killed.”
Sawchak is expected to make his first court appearance Tuesday afternoon.
