Justine Damond case: US police officer convicted of Australian woman's murder

Former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor in Minneapolis. Photo / AP file

A Minneapolis police officer was handcuffed and taken into custody immediately after being convicted of murder in the fatal shooting of an unarmed woman who approached his squad car after calling emergency services.

Mohamed Noor showed no reaction, but his wife cried as the jury's verdict was read at his trial in the 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond.

Damond, a 40-year-old dual citizen of the US and Australia, had called police to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home.

Noor was fired after being charged in the case.

Noor testified that a loud bang on his squad car made him fearful, and he fired when he saw a woman appear who was raising her arm. He said he fired to protect his partner's life.

Prosecutors attacked Noor for shooting without seeing a weapon or Damond's hands and questioned whether the loud bang was real.

He was convicted of third-degree murder but acquitted of the more serious second-degree intentional murder. He also was convicted of manslaughter.

Jurors deliberated about five hours Monday and 6½ on Tuesday before reaching a decision.

Minnesota's third-degree murder charge means causing the death of another through a dangerous act "without regard for human life but without intent to cause" death. The presumptive sentence is about 12½ years. Second-degree manslaughter, defined as creating unreasonable risk of causing death or great bodily harm to another through culpable negligence, has a presumptive sentence of about 4½ years.

A jury of 10 men and two women got the case yesterday after three weeks of testimony.

- AP

#BREAKING: Mohamed Noor has been found guilty of murder after shooting and killing Australian woman Justine Damond Ruszczyk in 2017. pic.twitter.com/1xIaELel9H

— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) April 30, 2019

NEW: Mohamed Noor, a former Minneapolis cop, was found guilty of murder for fatally shooting Justine Ruszczyk Damond, who had called 911 to report a possible sexual assaulthttps://t.co/3FhcYuvvR9

— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) April 30, 2019