Amid mounting community pressure, Minneapolis Police arrest man accused of shooting his neighbor

By Melissa Alonso, Lauren Mascarenhas and Zoe Sottile, CNN

(CNN) — Minneapolis police have taken a man into custody almost a week after he allegedly shot his neighbor in the neck — the culmination of a months-long campaign of racial harassment and violent threats, according to local reports and court documents.

Now, the city’s police department faces mounting criticism for not making an arrest sooner despite the victim filing reports about the harassment for months leading up to the shooting.

“We failed this victim 100%,” said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara at a news conference on Sunday. “The Minneapolis police somehow did not act urgently enough to prevent that individual from being shot.”

A video of the incident, captured on a home surveillance camera and obtained by CNN affiliate KARE, shows Davis Moturi standing outside, pruning a tree, when he suddenly falls to the ground.

The alleged shooter, John Sawchak – Moturi’s neighbor – surrendered around 1:24 a.m. Monday, following an hourslong standoff with police, O’Hara said at a news conference early Monday.

Sawchak has been charged with attempted murder, felony assault, stalking and harassment after allegedly shooting Moturi on Wednesday, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said in court filings.

Sawchak has a hearing scheduled in Hennepin County court Tuesday, court records show. It’s unclear whether he has retained an attorney.

Sawchak allegedly shot Moturi in the neck as Moturi trimmed a tree near their shared property line. In the criminal complaint, prosecutors call the shooting racially motivated.

In the year leading up to the shooting, Sawchak, who is White, verbally harassed Moturi, who is Black, on multiple occasions, including using “racially charged language” during an incident in October 2023 and calling Moturi “a Black bastard” in May, according to the criminal complaint.

Moturi was hospitalized with a fractured spine, two broken ribs and a concussion, according to authorities. The criminal complaint says the “gunshot appears to have a downward trajectory, entering through the victim’s neck and fracturing his spine and at least two ribs.”

Moturi spoke to KARE from his hospital bed, saying he feels police failed to protect his family by not arresting Sawchak sooner.

The Moturi family had called police to report at least 19 incidents of vandalism, property destruction/theft, harassment, hate speech, verbal threats and threatened physical assaults, according to the criminal complaint.

“I don’t call the police for fun. I call because I want my family to be safe,” Moturi told KARE.

Moturi’s wife told investigators Sawchak often observed them from a second-story window inside his home, according to the complaint.

She told police that in the past week, the defendant told the victim, “Touch my tree again and I’ll kill you,” according to the complaint.

Sawchak threatened Moturi on multiple occasions, including flashing a large knife from a second-floor window of his home and threatening to kill Moturi and his wife, the complaint said.

“Ultimately, what precipitated the shooting was the cutting of a tree that this individual had planted with his mother, who apparently he had a very deep attachment to,” O’Hara said after the arrest.

O’Hara on Sunday acknowledged his department failed to protect Moturi. “That should not have happened to him,” he said.

Sawchak had a history of harassing, threatening and attacking his neighbors dating to at least 2016 and had three active arrest warrants for previous threats against multiple neighbors, including Moturi, when the shooting occurred, court records show.

A verified GoFundMe raising money for Moturi’s recovery says the harassment started shortly after the couple bought their home in September 2023.

“My heart is broken. We aren’t safe in our home,” Moturi’s wife wrote in the description. “I can’t bring myself to think of where we would be had the angle of the bullet been slightly different.”

Speaking with CNN after the shooting, Sean Sullivan, who lives near both of the involved homes, said Sawchak had an “ominous aura” and was known for yelling at neighbors from his home, including saying racist comments. Sullivan once saw him throw a fountain drink on another man walking past his home, he said. But police efforts to respond to the incidents were “sorely lacking,” he said.

Sullivan said he feels relief that Sawchak has been arrested. “I hope he gets the help he needs,” he said.

‘This is an example of what de-escalation looks like’

The Minneapolis Police Department is facing pointed criticism over its treatment of the case, including the days that passed in between the Wednesday shooting and Sawchak’s arrest early Monday.

O’Hara said Monday morning officers had surrounded Sawchak’s home, waiting for days for him to exit. Officers learned “the individual had both firearms inside and also had knowledge of improvised explosive devices,” said the police chief.

A SWAT operation was finally implemented Sunday involving dozens of officers, including “our drone team, crisis negotiators, patrol, as well as command staff,” said O’Hara. Police had threatened to gas the home before Sawchak left and surrendered, he said.

“This is an example of what de-escalation looks like, and how we strive for every day peacefully resolving situations,” he said.

An investigation is ongoing, and officers are still working to recover firearms that they believe are inside Sawchak’s home, O’Hara added. “The individual obviously has mental health issues, and clearly is a hoarder, so it will take time for officers to conduct a thorough search of the residence,” he said.

O’Hara said the delay in arresting Sawchak involved multiple factors, including concerns about Sawchak’s mental health and that he was known to possess firearms, making the execution of a warrant a high-risk situation.

In court documents, prosecutors say Sawchak was “committed” for mental illness about 10 years ago with “a paranoid personality disorder,” after he was found not competent to proceed in a criminal case.

Prior to Sawchak’s arrest, O’Hara defended the department’s strategy, saying he did not want to risk a violent confrontation and wanted to make a safe arrest.

“We wanted to arrest the suspect where he would be least likely to have access to firearms. That is outside the residence,” O’Hara said. “Unfortunately, in this case, this suspect is a recluse and does not often come out of the house.”

Police attempted to contact the suspect on multiple occasions in response to Moturi’s 911 calls in the past, O’Hara said, but Sawchak refused to come to the door every time. One lieutenant did make contact and visited the suspect’s home more than 20 times, he said.

“We’re not going to go in and bust his door down with guns blazing and get into a deadly force situation,” O’Hara said.

He also highlighted what he framed as understaffing at the police department. “Everything that we do is impacted by the reality that the police department is much smaller today than what it was prior to 2020,” he said. “We are dealing with a much higher call load and a much higher load of investigations and serious street crime to deal with.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the city still grapples with the complexities of de-escalation following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, and the community’s conflicting demands for less force and more effective policing.

“You can’t simultaneously insist that police officers should be de-escalating tense situations … and then simultaneously say, right now you got to bust through those doors with the SWAT team and drag somebody out. You can’t have it both ways,” Frey said Sunday before Sawchak’s arrest.

Members of the Minneapolis City Council penned a letter to Frey in the days leading up to Sawchak’s arrest, criticizing police for not taking action sooner, KARE reported.

“MPD still has not arrested the suspect despite charges from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for Attempted Murder, 1st Degree Assault, Stalking, and Harassment and a request from the HCAO for a warrant with $1 million bail. MPD told the HCAO they do not intend to execute the warrant ‘for reasons of officer safety,’” the letter read, according to KARE.

Frey called the letter a “gross” political stunt by officials who don’t understand police operations.

“This should not be about politics, especially now. Doing that kind of thing in this situation, when we have officers that are over there at that home, that are trying to de-escalate a tense situation, and trying to make arrests with firearms involved in a residential neighborhood. I want nothing to do with that.”

“Leadership is about doing the right thing regardless of what the masses want, and so I believe that’s what we’re doing,” O’Hara said Sunday. “I know there’s a lot of rhetoric right now that we should just kick in the door, jump in there, guns blazing. That’s wrong. That is pandering to what’s going on while being completely ignorant of fact and having absolutely no expertise on police operations.”

City Council member Andrea Jenkins tried to get an explanation from O’Hara after a news conference last week as local reporters gathered around them, recording the interaction.

“We have to take violent criminals off the street,” she told reporters.

“I am not a police officer. I don’t know how that gets done but I know it needs to get done,” she said.

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CNN’s Sarah Dewberry, Chelsea Bailey and Bill Kirkos contributed to this report.