Minneapolis residents criticized the city’s handling of a year-long dispute between neighbors that culminated in a shooting last month during a City Council committee meeting Tuesday.

Davis Moturi, who is black, was trimming a tree in his yard with a chainsaw on Oct. 23 when he was allegedly shot by his white next-door neighborJohn Sawchak, 54 years old. A medical examination found that a small-caliber bullet had passed through Moturi’s neck and was embedded near his spine.

According to court documents, Moturi and his wife had filed at least 19 reports to police about threats and racist tirades by Sawchak since they moved into their home in the 3500 block of Grand Avenue in September 2023, including separate incidents in the weeks before the shooting in which Sawchak brandished a knife at Moturi and pointed a gun at him.

After the shooting, city leaders criticized the Minneapolis Police Department for allowing Sawchak to continue terrorizing the Moturi family, even though the Hennepin County Prosecutor’s Office issued an arrest warrant in July due to threats of violence. Sawchak had three active warrants for his arrest before the shooting and police did not arrest him until five days later.

Residents who spoke during a Minneapolis City Council Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday said this shooting was the latest in a long line of cases in which a black person was harmed by the actions (or inaction) of the Minneapolis Police Department. Minneapolis.

“So I wasn’t really surprised to see the reports and outrage over Sawchak’s blatant violence going unchecked and with MPD’s pitiful attempts to intervene because Sawchak is part of the plan,” said Julia Johnson, a Minneapolis resident. “He is a vigilante who does the work of the MPD to keep us in line and know our place.”

Several people mentioned the police killings of George Floyd and Jamar Clark, and another person compared MPD’s refusal to arrest Sawchak to the fatal shooting of Amir Locke while MPD officers were serving a no-contact warrant.

“Sawchak gets over a year for this particular case alone, and yet Amir Locke, who had no warrant and was not involved in any crime, got six seconds from when the door was kicked in,” one resident said. named Keith. he testified.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara initially defended his department’s actions and said his officers were having a difficult time convincing Sawchak, whom O’Hara characterized as a “recluse” who could be armed and dangerous. , so that it came to light. O’Hara later apologizedsaying the MPD “failed” Moturi.

Before the public hearing in the council chamber, O’Hara announced an expanded partnership with the NAACP and a few other volunteer organizations, known as the city’s Unity Community Mediation Team (UCMT). The hope is to improve the city’s response to disputes between neighbors before someone is seriously hurt and to add physical spaces where people can get help without relying on police.

The announcement began with the recognition that Moturi’s life was in danger and that the system failed him.

“Let me be clear, Mr. Moturi called the police multiple times, did everything he was supposed to do to try to get help, but unfortunately, the Minneapolis Police Department alone was unable to provide him with that help, and again, We’re sorry about that,” O’Hara said.

“So to me, when you apologize, you’re not just apologizing, you’re saying, hey, how can we make this right?” echoed Minneapolis NAACP President Cynthia Wilson. “It won’t happen overnight. Something could happen tomorrow, something could happen tonight, but we are working to make things better. And this is a great start.”

A complete list of UCMT locations and hours is available here.

O’Hara said his department’s internal investigation into the police actions that led to Moturi’s shooting continues.

“And almost every day, you know, we learn things that we weren’t aware of before,” the chief said. “It is a complicated issue. “It’s been going on for quite some time and there were multiple facets of the system involved here.”

Council members also called for an independent review.

Click here for a GoFundMe set up by the Moturi family as they navigate medical bills and missing work.

Sawchak is charged with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, stalking and harassment committed by bias. He remains held in the Hennepin County Jail on $600,000 bail and his next court hearing is scheduled for Nov. 25.