Minneapolis police on Monday identified two officers involved in a fatal shooting early Saturday in south Minneapolis.
The officers who fired the shots that killed 40-year-old DelShawn Crawford Sr. in an apartment at 3017 19th Av. E. were Laura Turner and Chad Meyer, police spokesman Sgt. William Palmer said Monday in a news release.
Just before 2:15 a.m. Saturday, the two were among four patrol officers responding to reports of a domestic assault in the building, police said. 911 operators heard someone being told to put down a knife on the phone as officers headed to the scene.
When they arrived, they heard a woman screaming from a second-floor apartment. Initially refused entry to the unit, Turner and Meyer forced their way in and immediately were confronted by an man armed with a knife, police said. When he approached the officers and would not put down the knife, they "were forced to defend themselves and shot and killed the suspect," Palmer wrote.
Crawford, formerly of Gary, Ind., is the father of 15-year-old twin boys who live in the Twin Cities with his ex-wife.
He had just finished a prison term for felony domestic assault-strangulation and had a long record of domestic assault and other crimes, court records show.
Turner, a U.S. Army Reserve veteran, joined Minneapolis police as a cadet in January 1997 and has served on the overnight shift in the Third Precinct since 2009, police said. In 2004, she was awarded a Medal of Commendation for entering a burning home to search for a missing resident.
Meyer joined the Minneapolis Police Department in January 2008 after serving with the Chisago County Sheriff's Office. He has been assigned to the Third Precinct since October 2008, almost always on the overnight shift, police said.
