WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO: Minneapolis releases footage of Wednesday night police-involved shooting
The police killing was the city’s first since the death of George Floyd in May.
Investigators in Minnesota were trying to buy a high-capacity pistol from Dolal Idd with the help of a confidential informant before the 23-year old was killed in an exchange of gunfire with Minneapolis police last week, according to search warrant documents released Monday.
Shots were exchanged Wednesday night when police moved in to arrest Idd, an Eden Prairie man, at a south Minneapolis gas station, the documents said. Idd, a Somali-American, died at the scene — the first police killing in the city since George Floyd died during an encounter with officers in May.
Crime scene personnel from the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) spotted a black-and-silver handgun between Idd's body and the center console of the car he was driving, the documents said. The documents did not say whether the gun was the same type that investigators were trying to buy. A female passenger who owned the vehicle but was not named in the documents told investigators that she was Idd's girlfriend. She said she knew him only as "Bird," a nickname that police knew he used.
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A preliminary BCA report on Monday also said Idd fired first. The investigation found that Idd struck several police vehicles with his car, "then fired his weapon at officers. The three officers returned fire, fatally striking Mr. Idd," the report said. The agency said they recovered both a handgun and a MAC-10 assault-style handgun from Idd's car.
Authorities in Minneapolis released body camera footage of the police killing of a man this week. (Minneapolis Police Department )
The BCA also identified the officers involved as Paul Huynh, a six-year veteran; Jason Schmitt; a 23-year veteran; and Sgt. Darcy Klund, a 33-year veteran. The investigation is ongoing.
In the search warrant application, BCA special agent Brandon Johnson said the informant told police that Idd had firearms at his home. The agent said that due to Idd's history of weapons and narcotics arrests he sought authorization for a nighttime raid of Idd's home, which was owned by Idd's father.
The agent also noted that Idd's brother, who had lived there too, was recently arrested by Bloomington police in a gun homicide. Investigators believed they would find weapons at the residence and were concerned that evidence could be moved or destroyed when Idd's family learned of his death, the agent explained.
Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill, who is presiding over the cases of four ex-Minneapolis police officers charged in Floyd's death, approved the search warrant. Johnson later reported back that no firearms, ammunition or other potential evidence related to firearms were found in the early Thursday search.
Authorities had previously said that Idd was being sought in a weapons investigation, but the search warrant documents provided the first detailed account of why police were focused on Idd: He was prohibited from possessing guns because of a 2018 weapons offense for possessing a stolen shotgun.
The Minneapolis Police Department on Thursday released body camera footage of the shooting death of Idd.
Idd's father, Bayle Gelle, identified his 23-year-old son as the man shot Wednesday evening at a gas station during a traffic stop for a felony warrant, the Star Tribune reported.
Bayle Gelle, of Eden Prairie, holds a phone with a photo of his son, Dolal Idd, in south Minneapolis on Thursday. (Chao Xiong/Star Tribune via AP)
Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said witnesses reported that Idd fired first. Body camera footage from one officer's point of view shows the driver of a white sedan attempting to flee. The motorist collides with a squad car as an officer points a weapon at the vehicle and screams, "Hands up, police!"
The motorist then reverses and another police cruiser pins the car on the driver's side, before what sounds like at least one shot fired from inside the vehicle. Officers then return fire and several gunshots are heard.
Gelle told the newspaper his son was the motorist killed by police.
"The police, they are brutality," he said.
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Online court records showed a string of minor traffic charges against Idd, a felony theft conviction in 2018 and a felony drug conviction in 2017. The records included a birth date that would make Idd 23 years old. They did not summarize the cases.
The records also included a misdemeanor conviction in 2019 for carrying a pistol in a public place. The Star Tribune reported that charges in the case said Idd fired a gun in the basement shower of his parents' home in suburban Eden Prairie with two children sleeping nearby. Idd, a Somali-American, was later arrested with a handgun that had been reported stolen in North Dakota.
Arradondo said the traffic stop was initiated by a police community response team — long-standing units that respond to situations such as drug investigations and gun crime. The police killing is the first in the city since an officer kneeled on George Floyd's neck for nearly 9 minutes, which killed Floyd and sparked unrest throughout the country.
Wednesday's shooting spurred protests, raising concerns about possible destructive behavior similar to riots that erupted after Floyd's death.
Minneapolis Police spokesman John Elder briefed community members and others about the officer-involved shooting Wednesday. Department spokesman John Elder said the incident happened about 6:15 p.m. while officers were carrying out a traffic stop with a man suspected of a felony. (Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via AP)
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"As chief I recognize the trauma that our city has been under, and we want to do everything we can to maintain the peace," Arradondo said Thursday.
Mayor Jacob Frey echoed the chief's remarks.
"Our city is experiencing a lot of raw emotion right now," he said. "I know that is especially true for our Somali community, who has lost a young man. Gun violence has gripped our city and today is no exception, but the circumstances and the details of what transpired last night, does not negate the tragedy of yesterday's death."
The state's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is handling the investigation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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