Frey defends police handling of neighbor shooting case, says ‘post-incident review’ will be done

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey largely defended his police force’s handling of a man with a history of mental illness who allegedly repeatedly terrorized neighbors, culminating in a shooting last week. He said a post-incident review will be done on the case to see what could have been done better.

“None of this is to say everything was done perfectly, but it is to say ‘Stop with the politics,’” Frey said.

John H. Sawchak was charged last week with second-degree attempted murder in the shooting of his neighbor, Davis Moturi, 34, in the south Minneapolis Lyndale neighborhood. Moturi was shot in the neck while pruning a tree near the property line, fracturing his spine and breaking two ribs. Moturi and his wife have said Sawchak has harassed his family since they moved next door in September 2023. Despite repeated calls to the police for help, Sawchak remained at large.

The case made national news and led some local officials to slam the police department for its handling of the situation.

Police arrested Sawchak early Monday morning after a five-hour standoff in the 3500 block of Grand Avenue South.

Frey said Monday police had to navigate a tenuous and complex situation where a suspect with mental illness had firearms and potentially explosives in a residential area.

“That is a cocktail of potential danger that is very difficult to deal with,” he said.

He also expressed condolences to the victim, Moturi, saying, “We’ve got to concentrate on the person who was shot who should not be.”

“That is unacceptable,” he said. “And when that happens, we need to make sure that the perpetrators of these violent crimes are brought to justice.”

But Frey said people should not politicize the situation. On Friday, five City Council members sent a letter to Frey and O’Hara expressing their “utter horror at [MPD’s] failure to protect a Minneapolis resident from a clear, persistent and amply reported threat posed by his neighbor.” They accused police of failing to submit reports to the County Attorney’s Office even though Sawchak allegedly threatened his neighbor while armed and screamed racial slurs at him. Sawchak is white and Moturi is Black.

The council members — Andrea Jenkins, Elliott Payne, Aisha Chughtai, Jason Chavez and Robin Wonsley — contended the Police Department told the County Attorney’s Office police did not intend to execute the warrant for “reasons of officer safety.”

Frey said the council members should have reached out to the police chief or him rather than releasing statements.

“It’s not lost on me that there’s a mayoral election, city elections, 300 days from now,” Frey said. “Simply put, you can’t have it both ways: You can’t call for officers to utilize de-escalation tactics and simply insist that we barge in there guns a blazing when it was an incredibly tenuous circumstance.”

Police Chief Brian O’Hara, who announced Monday he had ordered a full review of the circumstances that led up to the shooting, said officers had been working to arrest Sawchak since at least April, but surveillance didn’t work because Sawchak rarely left his house. O’Hara dismissed the option of carrying out a high-risk warrant because Sawchak was known to have weapons, which the chief feared could lead to a violent confrontation where officers may have to use deadly force.

“He was always gonna be arrested,” Frey said. “That was never in dispute.”