Tekle Sundberg shooting: Bodycam footage released by Minneapolis PD
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - As both family and community members continue to seek answers a week after the death of Andrew Tekle Sundberg following a nearly six-hour standoff with police, officials released body camera footage on Wednesday showing key moments leading up to police firing shots.
On July 13, police say Sundberg shot into the apartment of Arabella Yarbrough, leading to calls for police that resulted in the standoff at the apartment building at 904 21st Avenue South in Minneapolis.
A press conference held on Wednesday offered insight into the first and final moments of the standoff with Sundberg.
"I'll start by saying the obvious - this is not an outcome that anyone wanted. My deepest condolences go out to the family of Mr. Sundberg, I can't imagine the pain they're currently going through," said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. "After the initial 911 call which referenced shots fired, officers responded to the situation, they arrived on scene and they rescued mother and two children who were frightened and vulnerable during an active shooter situation. What followed from there was a six-plus hour standoff between Mr. Sundberg and the police. The objective of releasing the footage is to be transparent, pure and simple. We will intentionally not narrate what you see… There is an ongoing balance of getting information out quickly, and getting it right - the goal here is to err on the side of getting it right."
According to Frey the city has already reviewed "hundreds of hours" of footage, and officials ask the public to provide any more that they might have as the investigation progresses.
RELATED: Witness says he heard MPD officer say 'drop it' before police fatally shot Sundberg
Prior to releasing the footage of the first and final moments of the incident, Minneapolis city officials briefly took questions from reporters, while reiterating they would not answer anything that relates to the active investigation.
Standoff begins after shots fired, ends hours later
The newly released bodycam footage shows initial responding Minneapolis police officer Kapinos standing outside a door at the end of the hallway for Yarbrough's floor. The 911 caller, Arabella Yarbrough, states that she was grazed by a bullet from a suspect who lives in apartment 318.
After knocking on the locked hallway door repeatedly while announcing "police" and "police department" several times, three shots are fired through the door, sending him back down the stairway for cover and radioing "shots fired in the stairwell."
When additional officers arrive, Yarbrough can be seen slowly opening the door, and being told to "show us your hands!" before she is taken by officers who announce "clear." Her two kids wander out of her apartment shortly after and are gathered by officers.
Currently, there is no clear footage that shows the final shots being fired by officers at Sundberg, nor what they saw prior to it.
In the next clip, Sgt. Kelly can be seen repeatedly saying, "Come out with your hands up, you are under arrest, we are not going anywhere." Tekle Sundberg can be heard saying, "I don't care" among music playing and other inaudible commentary. It's believed he may have been on the phone at the time.
In the final clip, officers Pearson and Seraphine are said to be positioned on the rooftop across from the apartment monitoring Tekle Sundberg's movements, when they can be heard saying, "Is that a cellphone?" Before "gun?" and "gun" can be heard prior to shots fired.
However, police say none of the body camera footage they've examined shows a clear picture of what Sundberg was doing before shots were fired by officers.
Tekle Sundberg shooting: Snipers say they see gun before shooting
New body camera video released on Wednesday shows the moments that Minneapolis police snipers fired shots, killing Tekle Sundberg. In the video, you are unable to see what police are looking at, but you can hear officers saying there is a gun before shooting.
According to Minneapolis Police Department interim police chief Amelia Huffman, no prior authorization is required for a Minneapolis Police Department sniper to fire other than responding to a threat to protest the lives of themselves or others.
Since Sundberg’s death, protests have called for further transparency about what happened before his death, with Yarbrough herself confronting protestors in a tense moment outside her apartment building Saturday.
A new report released by the City of Minneapolis Tuesday gave a better timeframe of the moments leading up to Minneapolis police snipers ending the standoff.