Minneapolis cop who shot dead Australian Justine Ruszczyk walks free from prison after three years

A former Minneapolis cop who shot dead an unarmed Australian yoga instructor who called 911 about a potential sexual assault outside her home has walked free from jail.  

Mohamed Noor, 36, gunned down Justine Ruszczyk, 40, on the night of July 15, 2017, as he and fellow officer Matthew Harrity arrived at her home to investigate the disturbance. 

Noor was found guilty of third-degree murder and manslaughter by a jury in April 2019 and sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison.

According to online records from the Minnesota Department of Corrections, Noor was released on Monday just 18 days shy of the fifth anniversary of the fatal shooting after serving over three years behind bars. 

Mr Noor’s release comes after his murder conviction was overturned and he was re-sentenced on a lesser charge.  

Last year, Noor was resentenced to four years and nine months on the manslaughter charge after the Minnesota Supreme Court tossed out the initial murder charge claiming it did not apply to the case. 

In Minnesota, it is presumed that a defendant with good behaviour will serve two-thirds of a sentence in prison and the rest on parole.   

The former police officer will be on supervised release until January 2024, according to Minnesota Department of Corrections.

The death of Ms Ruszczyk sparked outrage in Australia and the US, where there were protests in Minnesota calling for police accountability, with the chief of the force later resigning. 

Ms Ruszczyk had called 911, the American equivalent of 000, claiming to have heard a woman screaming in the alley beside her home. 

She feared it was a sexual assault and ran outside when the cop car arrived, approaching it from behind.

Harrity told investigators they were startled by a loud noise when they pulled into the alley. Ms Ruszczyk then approached the driver’s side of the car and Noor, sitting in the passenger seat, pulled his trigger, killing her at the scene. 

Noor never testified, nor was he interviewed by police. The only information his lawyers gave was that he may have been scared of her – even though she was unarmed.

Mohamed Noor, 36, (pictured) has been released from jail after serving more than three years

Ms Ruszczyk’s family won a $20 million settlement from The City of Minneapolis after filing a wrongful death lawsuit.

Her fiancé, Don Damond, condemned the Minneapolis Police Department for not doing more to change the culture within the department after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Derek Chauvin.

‘Other than body camera policy, can you point to what has changed? Can you point to anything that has changed? I can’t,’ he said in an interview in 2020.