MINNEAPOLIS — On Friday, Winston Smith's brother, joined by attorneys and community justice leaders, spoke out about the decision not to press charges against U.S. Marshals Task Force officers who were involved in Smith's death in Uptown this summer.
That decision came earlier this week, when Crow Wing County Attorney Donald Ryan announced that he found the task force was "properly exercising its lawful authority" when Smith was fatally shot on the top floor of a parking garage June 3.
Members of the task force maintained Smith fired a gun as they attempted to take him into custody. The 32-year-old was being sought on a warrant for a felony firearms violation.
But 27-year-old Norhan Askar, who was in the car with Smith when he was fatally shot, claims she did not see Smith with a gun, and that he did not point a gun at the officers.
During Friday's press conference, activist Toshira Garraway Allen emphasized that the different accounts of what happened are troubling. She said Smith's family "strongly believes" there is footage of the fatal shooting, and that it should be released to the family.
"Our community, and most of all Winston's family, deserve transparency, deserves honesty, deserves closure," Garraway Allen said. "And yet, once again, another murder of a Black man in our community, and we are being denied that right. This has to stop, and we want clear, precise, answers. We want the truth."
Law enforcement has said there was no body-worn camera footage of the interaction between Smith and officers, nor any footage of the shooting because the U.S. Marshal Service didn't allow task force members to use body cameras. A law enforcement source tells KARE 11 that a mention of body camera footage in the Crow Wing County Attorney's report came from Minneapolis Police Officers who responded to the shots fired call, and not from Task Force members involved in the shooting.
Kidale Smith, Winston's brother, became emotional as he called for transparency.
"I really hate to be in a position to ask for help," Smith said. "But we do need it, because we do want to continue this fight because we know what they did was wrong. And that's why we feel like they're hiding."
The Smith family's attorney, Eric Newmark, claimed Friday that the investigation into his death was "flawed" from the beginning. Newmark said the family met with County Attorney Ryan last week, and learned that every U.S. Marshals Task Force officer who was present when Smith was shot refused to submit to an interview with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA).
"Think about that," Newmark said. "They all provided written statements, with time to consult with their attorneys, with time to consult with their colleagues. Is that transparency? The BCA told us they wanted to interview each and every one of them, and they refused."
Newmark said the family would continue to push for transparency, an independent investigation and for a grand jury to be convened so they can have questions about the shooting answered.
"If law enforcement has their way, we will never hear the officers' voices, and we will never even know their names," Newark said. "All of these individuals involved in the shooting, we will never one of their names. That's astonishing, that's disgraceful. This community, this family, deserve better than to have the face of this executioner well-hidden."
