Police Officer Sentenced to 12.5 Years in Death of Minneapolis Woman

The shooting of Ms. Ruszczyk had been a mystery from the start — far different from police shootings that were recorded on cellphones or squad car dashboard cameras. There was no video or audio of what had happened.

[Read more about the mysteries of this case.]

Late on the night of July 15, 2017, Ms. Ruszczyk, who was about to get married and sometimes used her fiancé’s surname, twice called 911 to report what she thought was a sexual assault in the alley behind her Minneapolis home.

Mr. Noor and his partner were sent to the area to investigate, and the shooting soon followed. It was never entirely clear how the officers and Ms. Ruszczyk had wound up crossing paths, but testimony at Mr. Noor’s trial suggested that she came outside in the darkened alley to talk to the officers, and startled them.

At his trial, Mr. Noor said he feared for his life when he saw Ms. Ruszczyk approaching his cruiser and made a split-second decision to shoot. “She could have had a weapon,” Mr. Noor said in court.

Lawyers for Mr. Noor have acknowledged that Ms. Ruszczyk in fact posed no threat. She had been holding a glittery cellphone and standing outside a rolled-down window of the squad car when she was shot.

Mr. Noor’s lawyers said the events were a tragedy but not a crime. Prosecutors said that Mr. Noor had acted unreasonably — firing at a shadowy figure without even yelling a warning — and that it was murder.

The shooting of Ms. Ruszczyk set off outrage as far away as Australia, where she had lived for most of her life. The trial drew intense attention among Minnesota’s Somali-American residents, many of whom wondered whether Mr. Noor would be treated fairly.

And the events forced changes in the policies and leadership of the Minneapolis Police Department. The chief was forced out, and the department rewrote its body camera policy. Both Mr. Noor and his partner, Officer Matthew Harrity, had been wearing cameras that night, but neither officer had them turned on when the shooting occurred.