The parents of a 20-year old shot and killed by police during a south Minneapolis standoff in 2022 are suing the Minneapolis Police Department over his death.
It was three years ago when Andrew "Tekle" Sundberg was shot by two Minneapolis police department snipers, who authorities say believed he was armed.
Instead, video shows Sundberg was holding a cellphone as he was hanging out of his second floor window of his apartment at 9th Street and 21st Avenue South.
The Hennepin County attorney ruled the officers acted responsibly and declined to file charges.
Sundberg's parents say they told officers that their son had a history of a traumatic brain injury and PTSD. They say in the lawsuit that a mental health team should have been called to the scene to de-escalate the situation. The suit claims that police deprived his son of his civil rights and violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The shooting in 2022 followed a six-hour standoff after Sundberg ired bullets into his neighbors’ apartments, forcing an evacuation of the building. Nobody was injured but the incident drew a large response from the MPD and SWAT.
The report from Hennepin County authorities says that Sundberg was outside of the window shortly after 4:00 a.m. and made comments about how the "officers were going to get shot."
They claim Sundberg then went back into his apartment unit and returned with a handgun that he used to break out the remainder of his window. When officers saw the handgun and the barrel pointing outwards, they announced “gun” and fired from their sniper rifles killing Sundberg.
Mike Freeman, who was the Hennepin County Attorney at the time of the shooting, said in a statement that charges against the MPD were not justified.
"Mr. Sundberg’s death was a tragedy," Freeman said. "Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Mr. Sundberg. People who are suffering from mental health crises are vulnerable, and encounters between those in crisis and law enforcement must be handled with special care. In this case, tragic as it is, the officers' use of deadly force was legally authorized under Minnesota law."
The attorney's office added at the time that it was not possible to know Sundberg's intentions or exact mental state in justification of officers using deadly force.
So far, there's no comment from Minneapolis city officials.