Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman not running for re-election

(FOX 9) - Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman is not running for re-election, he announced Wednesday.

According to a statement released by his office, Freeman wrote that he will not seek re-election in November 2022. 

"Next year I will have been Hennepin County Attorney for 24 years, the longest serving in county history and I will also be 74 years old. It’s time to move on. It has been a marvelous privilege to serve the people of Hennepin County and to lead the State’s largest and most experienced public law office," he wrote.

As county attorney, Freeman oversaw many memorable cases, including the murders of Justine Damond and George Floyd. 

"We worked hard to develop protocols and procedures for making the investigation of these types of cases as thorough as possible. That led to the conviction of Minneapolis Police Officer Mohamed Noor of murder. Those procedures and protocols resulted in a strong investigation into the killing of George Floyd which allowed my office to charge Officer Derek Chauvin with murder in only four days," he wrote.

Freeman also wrote that his deepest regret is that, to date, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office has not been able to bring charges in the shootings of four children. Terrell Mayes, a 3-year-old, was fatally shot in December 2011. Then, over the last year, three children were shot in Minneapolis - Trinity Ottoson-Smith and Aniya Allen were killed, and Ladavionne Garrett, Jr. was seriously wounded.

"Our efforts must never cease to stop this senseless killing of children," he wrote.