Police chief apologizes to family

David Joles, Star Tribune

Vang Khang spoke with reporters on Tuesday in the bedroom of his family's home in north Minneapolis where a piece of sheetrock riddled with bullet holes had been cut out. Police mistakenly raided the home early Sunday. Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan met with the family and apologized today.

By Terry Collins, Star Tribune

Last update: December 18, 2007 - 3:33 PM

The family involved in a botched high-risk police search of their north Minneapolis home early Sunday said today that Police Chief Tim Dolan has personally apologized to them.

Dolan met with members of the Khang family earlier today, said Sia Lo, the family's attorney during a news conference held in the upstairs master bedroom that was riddled by at least two-dozen bullet holes. Family members said the shots came from police.

Lo said that Dolan told the family the wrong house was raided and that there was "a breakdown in communication," that led a SWAT team to descend on the home in the 1300 block of Logan Avenue N.

On Monday, Dolan met with members of the Hmong community and family elders. His meeting today with homeowner Vang Khang, his wife, Vee Moua, and extended family was considered a positive step in the healing process, Lo said.

Police apologized, admitting that they had erred based on bad information from an informant, the alleged victim of a violent crime at the house, believed to be one of the last pieces in a long-term investigation focused on violent gang members.

Police said they had no reason to believe the information was inaccurate. They had the right address on the warrant, but the house wasn't occupied by anybody they wanted.

Moua said while watching television she heard noises that ended up being a SWAT team entering the rear of the house about 12:30 a.m. Sunday. She raced upstairs to wake up her husband.

Khang, thinking the intruders were burglars, fired at police through a bedroom wall he said in fear that they would harm his sons in another bedroom. The shots hit two officers, one in the back and one in the head, but both were uninjured because they were wearing protective armor. Police shot back, but did not hit him.

Khang said he realized the intruders were the police only after his 12-year-old son told him so in Hmong.

"Things could've been very tragic," Khang said Tuesday. "Maybe there were spirits watching over us."

Lo said the family will be staying with relatives indefinitely. "I think it will be very difficult for the children right now to come back at this time," Lo said.

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