Minneapolis police chief said he contemplated his future during fallout from neighborhood shooting

In the days following revelations that a Black man was shot in the neck allegedly by his mentally ill neighbor after nearly a year of harassment and repeated pleas for help from police, outrage spilled beyond the south Minneapolis block where the shooting occurred and into public discourse.

Residents and elected officials castigated the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) for its handling of the case, including a four-day delay in arresting the white suspect, John Sawchak. An apology by Chief Brian O’Hara and an acknowledgement that his department failed shooting victim Davis Moturi did little to ease tensions.

Amid the fallout, O’Hara considered resigning in October, knowledgeable sources who requested anonymity told the Minnesota Star Tribune. Some claimed he went as far as drafting a resignation letter.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger, a close friend, reportedly phoned allies to highlight O’Hara’s service to the community and encouraged them to reach out to the chief. Supporters hoped to prevent a knee-jerk decision by a chief known at times for acting on emotion, sources said.

In an interview, O’Hara flatly denied writing a resignation letter. But the chief admitted he contemplated his future during what he described as a “disheartening situation.”

He said he felt uncertainty about whether he might be fired or forced out as pressure mounted in the days before a contentious City Council meeting on Oct. 31.

“That could happen at any time,” he told the Star Tribune this week. “I’m human. I have a wife, and I have a family; I’ve got to think about them. ”

O’Hara said he feared the situation could spiral out of control and make him a distraction that would damage the MPD’s image at a time when the department was making progress on reforms. Should it reach that crisis point, he said: “I think you have an obligation as the police chief to step down.”

O’Hara insisted it never got that far — and said he remains committed to fulfilling his full three-year term, which expires Jan. 1, 2026.

“I have absolutely no intention of turning my back on the men and women of this department or the people in this community,” he said. “But I know that’s not always necessarily going to be my choice.”

Over the past several weeks, the MPD has faced increased scrutiny after a number of high-profile incidents. Among them: a brazen balcony shooting in the Lyn-Lake neighborhood. The suspect managed to evade police and later allegedly shot two strangers in Kandiyohi County, killing one. It took Minneapolis police 15 minutes to reach the initial crime scene.

In addition, Edgar Barrientos-Quintana’s murder conviction was vacated this month, and he was freed from prison after serving 16 years of a life sentence. Attorney General Keith Ellison’s Conviction Review Unit blamed Minneapolis police, along with prosecutors and the defense, for a “confluence of errors” that led to a wrongful conviction.

Christopher Gaiters, one of the investigators in the case, is a high-ranking MPD officer, serving as assistant chief of community trust.

Moturi, 34, was shot in his south Minneapolis yard on Oct. 23, the culmination of months of torment from a neighbor whom he reported to police 19 times. The bullet fractured Moturi’s spine and broke two ribs.

Five City Council members sent a letter blasting the MPD for refusing to arrest Sawchak, despite three outstanding warrants related to threats against his neighbors. Critics accused the embattled department of not caring about Moturi — an insult that O’Hara said was false and politically motivated.

In the wide-ranging interview Wednesday, O’Hara recalled the frustration he felt when that letter was made public, “painting us as a failure.”

Dozens of attempts had been made to contact Sawchak inside his south Minneapolis home since April, police said, but he refused to cooperate with law enforcement. During a fiery news conference on Oct. 25, O’Hara defended his officers’ cautious handling of an armed recluse with a violent criminal history.

He said the situation “escalated, in part, by actions precipitated by the victim,” referring to Moturi’s decision to trim a tree near the shared property line that Sawchak had planted with his late mother.

Mayor Jacob Frey and Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette were not notified he was planning to speak to the media at the news conference or briefed on what he intended to say, sources told the Star Tribune.

O’Hara later apologized to Moturi, conceding that the MPD had not acted urgently enough to prevent the violence. The admission came hours before an overnight SWAT operation to arrest Sawchak. He was eventually charged with second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault, stalking and harassment, and remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail.

The arrest did not temper criticism.

On Oct. 31, activists interrupted a City Council meeting to demand O’Hara be fired. Several pointed to a perceived racial double standard in how the situation was handled.

“This is not the first instance where the community has raised concerns about his poor judgment, poor leadership, blaming the community and excuses,” said Nekima Levy Armstrong, founder of the Racial Justice Network. “How many Black people’s doors have they kicked in for less?”

O’Hara’s allies rushed to his defense online. Supporters, including longtime Northsider Buzzy Bohn, argued that if police had broken down the door of Sawchak’s house and fatally wounded a mentally ill man in the process, those same advocacy groups would’ve protested.

“I just feel like there were a lot of opportunities missed there and they weren’t all from MPD,” Bohn, a retired Minneapolis Public Schools teacher, said in an interview.

Frey and Barnette each issued public statements backing O’Hara’s leadership. But they agreed with the City Council’s call for an independent review of the case to “make sure this never happens again.”

That week, amid growing backlash, O’Hara said he spoke candidly to his wife and a small group of trusted advisers. “I did not know what the next phone call was going to be,” he said, “what the next revelation was.”

Instead, O’Hara said, he heard from dozens of residents who voiced their support.

In a staff meeting last week, he dismissed resignation rumors tied to a vacancy in his former position of public safety director in Newark, N.J. — O’Hara’s hometown, where his wife, Lt. Wafiyyah O’Hara, still lives. She is currently training to become a captain on the Newark Police Department.

O’Hara told the Star Tribune he never considered returning to New Jersey, nor has he applied to another job since arriving in Minneapolis.

When he took control of the MPD in 2022, city officials heralded him as a transformational leader who could drive culture change in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and navigate a court-enforceable consent decree mandating sweeping reforms.

The City Council unanimously confirmed O’Hara, making him the first outsider to lead the department in 16 years.

For him to remain beyond 2025, he would have to be reappointed by the mayor and approved by the full council. Frey and all 13 council members are up for re-election next fall.

“In a sense, this is all temporary,” O’Hara said, noting that a two- to three-year term is not enough time to create sustainable reform.

“I cannot care any more about this town — or the men and women of the Police Department — than I do,” he said. “I feel like I have been a police chief here 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the entire two years. So I don’t have any more fuel left to give than what I’ve already given.”

“I am very confident that whenever this is over, I’ve left everything on the field here.”

Stephen Montemayor contributed to this report.