Minnesota officer sentenced, man charged in British lawmaker’s murder

On the same day a Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an unarmed woman was sentenced to nearly five years in prison, a 25-year-old man was charged in last week’s murder of a British lawmaker. The video above shows clips from sentencing, as well as the announcement of the charges.

Officer Mohamed Noor was initially convicted and sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison for third-degree murder and manslaughter in the 2017 fatal shooting of Justine Damond. Last month, the Minnesota Supreme Court tossed out Noor’s murder conviction and sentence, saying the third-degree murder statute didn’t fit the case.

According to court records, Damond called 911 not once, but twice, to report what she thought was a sexual assault. When officers arrived, she ran outside to meet them.

Noor testified that he and his partner were driving slowly in an alley when a loud bang on their police SUV made him fear for their lives. He said he saw Damond appear at the driver’s side window and raise her right arm before he fired a shot from the passenger seat to stop what he thought was a threat.

“You did shoot across the nose of your partner. You did endanger a bicyclist and residents of a community of surrounding houses,” Judge Kathryn Quaintance said Thursday. “These factors of endangering the public make your crime of manslaughter appropriate for high end of the guidelines.”

The sentence comes as British prosecutors said 25-year-old Ali Harbi Ali had “religious and ideological motivations” when he stabbed Conservative lawmaker David Amess to death in a church east of London last week.

Prosecutors alleged Ali, who “has been charged with murder and the preparation of terrorist acts”, is a supporter of the Islamic State group. They said he targeted Amess because the lawmaker had voted for airstrikes on Syria.

At a briefing hearing at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court Thursday, prosecutor James Cable said Ali began planning to kill a lawmaker two years ago. Cable said Ali initially focused on two other politicians before choosing Amess.

“We’ve been working closely with Parliament’s own security team and with the Home Office to review existing arrangements for MPs security, and that work will continue,” Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner for Specialist Operations said. “Police forces across the country have been working with individual MPs to review their specific arrangements.”

Ali was not asked to enter a plea at the preliminary hearing Thursday. He will be held in custody until at least the next hearing.