Minneapolis NAACP calls for accountability for the way police handled neighbor shooting

The Minneapolis NAACP slammed Mayor Jacob Frey and city officials Friday for failing to protect a man from months of harassment and stalking by a neighbor who shot him last week.

Residents of the Lyndale neighborhood where the shooting occurred are deeply concerned and feeling unsafe, NAACP President Cynthia Wilson said during a news conference amid the fallout surrounding the wounding of Davis Moturi, who had repeatedly reported to police his longstanding fears about neighbor John Sawchak.

“There was a dereliction in the duties of the city of Minneapolis,” Wilson said. “I’m not just focusing on Chief [Brian] O’Hara and his office, but I’m talking about the mayor, the inspector. These individuals had documentation of what was going on with the Moturi family, and saying that they didn’t is just a flat-out lie.”

Sawchak, 54, was charged by warrant last week in Hennepin County District Court with second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, stalking and harassment in connection with the shooting in the 3500 block of Grand Avenue S.

Sawchak remained at large for four days until he was arrested early Sunday after a SWAT team breached his home.

Sawchak, who is white, has a long history of mental illness and terrorizing his neighbors. According to police reports and numerous restraining orders, Sawchuk frequently targeted people of color. Moturi is Black.

Wilson called for accountability and apologies during the news conference at the NAACP office, where she was flanked by members of the Unity Community Mediation Team, which works with the Minneapolis police on reform efforts.

Frey, she said, “has to come forward with a press conference of his own with some of his city officials and apologize to the Moturi family ... so that the community can feel a sense of sincere safety in the community in which they live.”

Frey fully supports an independent review, according to a statement from his office Thursday.

“The mayor extends his condolences to Davis Moturi, his wife, Caroline, and their family and friends,” according to the statement. “The safety of our residents is a top priority and any form of violence or hate speech is completely unacceptable and does not align with who we are as a community.”

Wilson did not call for any city officials to be fired, as some activists demanded while interrupting Thursday’s Minneapolis City Council meeting. She expressed appreciation for O’Hara’s apology to the NAACP and other members of the Unity Community team, while acknowledging that similar remarks could be directed at a wider group of residents.

Wilson couldn’t say whether the Moturi family intends to file a lawsuit against the city, but she believes they are well within their rights to go to court.

“It doesn’t matter who you are, what color you are, what you look like — you have an opportunity in this country to live wherever you want to live,” she said. “If somebody doesn’t like where I’m living, that’s your problem. It’s not mine.”