MINNEAPOLIS - Minneapolis Police say a gun found hidden in a sock near a shooting scene is tied by forensic evidence to a man fatally shot by officers last May.
The test is the latest stop on a winding trail that investigators say ultimately leads to 22-year-old Terrance Franklin, who was killed after police say he wrestled a gun away from one of the officers pursuing him.. Police released the timeline Wednesday. While the gun itself did not have traceable DNA on it, the sock it was hidden in had DNA traces that match Franklin.
They believe Franklin ditched the weapon on May 10 while being chased down the 500 block of West 28th Street by officers by suspected him of burglary. The chase ended in the basement of a home at 2717 Bryant Ave. S., where an encounter between Franklin and two officers ended in the fatal shooting of the suspect.
Police say they have traced the history of the 9mm handgun, and have laid it out in chronological order.
- May 9th, 2013. Burglary of dwelling at 427 Taylor Street NE. Homeowner reports a TV and handgun were stolen.
- May 10th, 2013. Terrance Franklin dumps a vehicle on the 500 block of West 28th Street in Minneapolis. 5 blocks away, he takes a gun from a Minneapolis Police Officer and severely wounds 2 officers in a struggle before he is shot and killed.
- October 28th, 2013. A homeowner on the 500 block of 28th Street West found a sock with a 9 mm gun inside of it wedged between his home's foundation and back porch. The homeowner called police who recovered the sock and gun. The serial number on the gun matches the number of the gun stolen from 427 Taylor Street NE on May 9th.
- October 29th, 2013. Minneapolis Police Department Crime Lab forensic scientists swab the handgun, magazine and live cartridges for possible DNA evidence and latent fingerprints.
- October 30th, 2013. Minneapolis Police Sergeants take the DNA swabs, sock, and handgun to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for DNA analysis, a common practice.
- March 4th, 2014. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension informs the Minneapolis Police Department that Terrance Franklin's DNA profile was found on the sock.
When asked why they were releasing the results of the BCA test Assistant Chief Kris Arneson said sharing available information is part of the department's new culture of openness and transparency.
News of the gun and how Minneapolis Police say it is tied to Franklin will undoubtedly rekindle tensions between the department and Franklin's family. Attorneys for his survivors have instigated legal action against the department, saying Franklin never took a gun from the officer, and tried to surrender before being fatally shot. They have also suggested that the shooting was racially motivated.
"I just think this is pitiful," said attorney Michael Padden, who attended the police news conference. "This police department from the beginning has been trying to disparage this young man, and disparage his family." Padden told KARE 11's Boua Xiong that the gun evidence would not even be admissible in a court of law, and that today's information release was just another attempt to assail Franklin's character.
