A man in Minnesota was shot in the neck while tidying his yard by a 54-year-old neighbor who had previously cautioned him against touching a particular tree on the property, following nearly a year of racially charged threats.
Video evidence captured the moment Davis Moturi was outside his Minneapolis residence trimming a tree when he was hit by a bullet in the open daylight.
Authorities claimed that Moturi’s neighbor, John Sawchak, fired the weapon following months of escalating conflicts between the two.
A criminal complaint obtained by CNN revealed that Moturi, who is black, alleged that his white neighbor employed “racially charged language” in October 2023 and referred to him as a “black bastard” in May.
Moturi has allegedly contacted the police regarding at least 19 instances of threats, hate speech, and harassment from Sawchak, yet no action has been taken.
Moturi reported to the police that his neighbor issued a threat to shoot him “if he touched a specific tree.” As Moturi was trimming the tree, Shawchak reportedly fired at the neighbor from his open upstairs window.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara acknowledged that his department did not succeed in preventing the shooting and conceded that officers should have acted more quickly before Moturi was shot on Oct. 23, according to the outlet.