Authorities identified the woman fatally shot as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good. Footage of the shooting posted on social media shows two federal agents trying to get a woman to get out of a vehicle that is partially blocking a street.
The driver reverses as one of the agents tries to open the driver’s side door, then pulls forward. A third agent, standing near the car, draws a gun and fires a shot, then continues shooting as the car moves past him.
After Good was shot, the vehicle crashed into a pole on the side of the road.
The incident was “entirely predictable,” according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara in a Thursday interview with CBS.
Des Moines police spokesperson Sgt. Paul Parizek said there’s a mantra the department practices when it comes to predictable situations.
“There’s guidance in our industry that is frequently repeated, and it is ‘If it’s predictable, it’s preventable,'” Parizek said in an interview. “It’s not an emergency if we create it.”
Authorities are investigating the fatal shooting of a woman by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photos show the aftermath.
Parizek declined to comment on the shooting in Minneapolis because the incident is under investigation.
“There are enough videos circulating right now that the one thing that everybody should agree on is that we need to let this investigation happen,” he said. “And it needs to happen thoroughly.”
Can Des Moines police shoot at moving vehicles?
While Des Moines police are authorized to use deadly force in certain situations when there is an immediate threat of death or serious injury, shooting at a moving vehicle is against department policy.
It’s also against state law and U.S. Department of Justice policies.
Des Moines Police Department policy prohibits shooting at a moving vehicle “except in self-defense or the defense of another and all other reasonable means of defense have been exhausted, to include moving out of the path of the vehicle.”
“Sometimes you just have to do it, but you have to know what could happen,” Parizek said.
Officers also are prohibited from firing their weapons at people who pose only a threat to themselves, and cannot fire from a moving vehicle, unless in urgent circumstances.
Des Moines police say they are committed to caring for the community.
“There’s story after story about conflict … (but) we are hyper-focused here on making sure that we nurture the relationships in our community so that people understand that the Des Moines Police Department is here to help,” Parizek said. “If you need help, call us. We’ll be there for you.”
2017 Water Works Park incident emphasizes restrictions
Parizek referred to a 2017 non-fatal shooting in Des Moines Water Works Park when talking about the department’s deadly force policy.
Private guards had shot at the vehicle of a man who was leaving the park at about 1 a.m., three hours after it closed. They attempted to pull him over and when he didn’t, the guards pulled their vehicle around his and blocked the exit. Two guards got out of the vehicle and one fired three rounds from a handgun into the man’s engine.
Parizek called the shooting “questionable” and said he was “unsure whether this situation warranted that level of force.”
“It appears there was some questionable tactics involved,” Parizek told the Register at the time. “We train to avoid these types of situations. I’m not sure if there would have been a similar outcome if Des Moines police were involved.”
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