Now, the Minneapolis Police Department once again finds itself at the center of controversy over race and policing, after failing to arrest Sawchak on the active warrants before he allegedly shot Davis Moturi on October 23, and then waiting several days before taking the alleged shooter into custody.
Sawchak’s defense attorneys said their client denies the allegations, and he did not enter a plea at arraignment.
John Miller, CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, said there are many factors complicating how police responded to the ongoing neighborhood dispute, including that the city’s police force has significantly been reduced since 2020.
The department “went from 900 to 500 officers,” which would “make any department less efficient in any response that requires follow-up,” Miller said.
In September 2023, Davis and Caroline Moturi moved into their first home next door to Sawchak. The arguments between the neighbors began over a tree planted between their homes, but quickly escalated, according to court documents.
“What should have been the start of a wonderful chapter with my husband became a living nightmare,” Caroline Moturi wrote in the days after her husband was shot.
Sawchak, who had been charged with multiple felonies from his interactions with the Moturis, had three open arrest warrants against him in the days leading up to the alleged shooting.
Last Friday, O’Hara said that the situation escalated in part due to the actions of the victim, but he did not elaborate on what Moturi allegedly did.
Then, a week before the shooting, Sawchak allegedly stood outside the Moturis’ home with a firearm and pointed the gun at Davis through the window, according to prosecutors. On October 23, Sawchak allegedly shot Moturi in the neck from his second-floor window.
Sawchak was charged with attempted murder, felony assault, stalking and harassment and days later a judge granted an emergency extreme risk protection order, citing Sawchak’s mental illness and possession of a firearm, court records show. The order requires Sawchak to surrender all firearms.
But he remained in his home for days while Moturi was hospitalized from the gunshot wound, and criticism grew over the Minneapolis Police Department’s delay in making an arrest.
at Moturi’s wife, and yet again after Sawchak allegedly shoved human feces through the mail slot of their front door.
“I don’t call the police for fun. I call because I want my family to be safe,” Davis Moturi told CNN affiliate, KARE.
Through it all, Sawchak “constantly evaded law enforcement by retreating into his home and refusing to answer the door,” court records state.