The Crow Wing County Attorney announced Monday the US Marshals Task Force members who shot and killed Winston Smith in Minneapolis were reasonable and justified in their deadly use of force and suggests no criminal prosecution.
County Attorney Donald Ryan, in a letter to Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman writes that Smith was noncompliant, drew his handgun and fired at officers. He was shot by two deputies attempting to arrest him on a warrant in June on the roof of an Uptown parking lot. Ryan’s office was reviewing the case instead of Hennepin County to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Ryan states he could not conclude who fired first, Smith or the officers, but that that detail was “irrelevant” because “once an individual initiates a deadly force confrontation, a law enforcement officer does not have to wait to be shot or shot at before reacting.”
A lawyer for the woman with Smith at the time said she did not see a gun on Smith or in the car. Ryan’s report says the BCA recovered a handgun on the driver’s side floor with a live cartridge in the chamber and the magazine empty.
Ryan writes that the officers were wearing tactical vests that identified them as law enforcement and they identified themselves through the squad car’s PA system.
Smith’s shooting sparked weeks of protests and unrest as demonstrators called for release of the identities of the officers involved and body-worn camera footage. Law enforcement said none of the task force members were wearing body worn cameras.