JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Heartbreak and outrage in Minnesota after an unarmed 40-year-old bride-to-be is shot and killed by a police officer who was responding to her 911 call.
Justine Damond, who had already begun using her fiance's last name, called 911 to report a possible assault near her home in Minneapolis. The officers who responded had body cameras, but they weren’t on.
Critics said those could have provided valuable details about the encounter.
"We've lost the dearest of people and we are desperate for information," said Don Damon, Justine Damond's fiance
Justine Damond’s heartbroken family is demanding answers after she called 911 and a responding officer killed her.
"We only ask that the light of justice shine down on the circumstances of her death," said Justine Damond's father John Ruszczyk.
Outrage and speculation both grow, and tensions are high. Initial reports are that Officer Mohammed Noor shot the 40-year-old Australia native from the passenger seat, across from his partner. Both had body cameras, but neither were recording.
"I am heartsick and deeply disturbed," said Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges. "I have a lot of questions about why the body cameras weren't on."
In Jacksonville, the sheriff is working on getting all of his police officers body cameras. Right now about 60 of them are already wearing them on the street as part of a pilot program.
JSO’s policy shows police will have to activate the cameras when involved in arrests, emergency responses, pursuits, traffic stops and in many other scenarios.
READ: JSO's Body Camera Policy
If an officer doesn’t record when they should, they are subject to “disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.”
In Bradford County, deputies have been wearing body cameras for years. But soon, they’ll record automatically when responding to a call. The sheriff said he doesn’t take breaking the rules lightly.
"They will be terminated," said Bradford County Sheriff Gordon Smith. "They better have a good, logical reason, and there’s many of them. And there’s been many times when it’s logical, and there’s time in the past when it wasn’t logical."
Civil rights attorney Rhonda Peoples-Waters says regardless how it ends, the Minnesota case could set a precedent for how police respond and use body cameras.
"If the cameras are not turned on, then you don't have the transparency and it is also a waste of our funds," said Peoples-Waters. "It is going to be important to send a message to officers as well as the community that the purpose of these body cameras can be trusted."