Minneapolis, MN – A September 5 press conference at the offices of CAIR MN made public new information in the police murder of 23-year-old Isak Aden. Aden, a breadwinner and caregiver for his younger siblings and disabled grandmother, was surrounded on July 2 by 90 officers for four hours in the Twin Cities suburb of Eagan, before fatal shots were fired by five cops from the cities of Eagan and Bloomington.

For two months, his family and hundreds of community members have rallied and marched justice for Isak, demanding the release of audio and video from the incident, and the firing and prosecution of the killers. The officers are back on duty, as the official investigation continues, and no decision has been made on prosecuting the officers. However, pressure has won the release of some information to Aden’s siblings. From hundreds of pages of transcripts and reports, a timeline of events disproves the story that police and media reported at the outset.

Eagan Police Chief Roger New claimed that Isak was involved in a domestic assault, but the documents make it clear that police knew otherwise. Isak’s brother Badrudin Aden said, “In a statement given to Officer Meyers, the reporting party was unable to identify when they saw the supposed weapon and admitted there was never an assault. After receiving the statement, Officer Meyer’s narrative states that he then transported her down to the scene, all while Isak was alive.” According to Badrudin, all of this shows “Isak Aden was never a threat to begin with.”

He continued, “This brings us to the reports about there being a standoff in which ‘after hours of negotiations, shots were fired’. This was clearly worded to leave room for interpretation and assumptions. According to the incident detail report provided by the Bloomington Police department, [Isak] was already sitting down, on the ground with his hands on his face, unarmed, at 8:56 p.m. He was unarmed when they engaged him at 10:38 p.m. They isolated him, mentally and emotionally tortured him, and then essentially executed him.”

Isak’s sister, Sumaya Aden, agreed. “A standoff is defined as a stalemate or a deadlock between two equally matched opponents in a dispute or conflict. There was never a standoff. 90 law enforcement officers in SWAT gear, with armored vehicles, and rifles against an innocent, frightened and unarmed 23-year-old are not equally matched opponents.”

While it was emotional for them to read reports from the night Isak was killed, the siblings also expressed relief that the brother they knew was reflected there, contrary to the false descriptions in public statements by police and in media reports.

Sumaya said, “We know who our brother was, and we have known since the beginning that these allegations were false. We've seen law enforcement time and time again exceed their sworn jurisdiction and abuse power by choosing to act as judge, jury and executioners by murdering innocent, compliant, unarmed black men at a disproportionate rate.”

Before ending her statement, Sumaya Adencalled for an independent prosecutor to handle her brother’s case. Dakota County Prosecutor James Backstrom has never prosecuted police for killing civilians, instead dismissing a dozen such cases without charges.

She described how Prosecutor Backstrom is not impartial, “[He] is now refusing to let the Ramsey County medical examiners release our brother’s autopsy report to us. In 2009, Backstrom was publicly reprimanded by the Minnesota Supreme Court for discouraging a Washington County medical examiner to testify for the defense in a murder trial by saying, ‘you work for us, not them.’”

“Nothing we do from here on out will bring our brother back but what we are determined to do, is to ensure that he gets a fair and impartial prosecutor who will do their job. That is why we are demanding James Backstrom…assign the case to an outside, independent prosecutor with no conflict of interest. County prosecutors have done this in other cases and it is an accepted practice.”

After the press conference, the Aden family became the latest targets of cowardly islamophobic reporting by the local Fox news station. Under the headline, “Family’s attempt to hide public information shrouds Eagan fatal police shooting in transparency controversy,” Fox criticized the family for redacting small portions from the documents.

Sumaya countered, “Let’s ask [Fox reporter] Leah Beno why she cropped out and reported without the time stamps on the far left of the Incident Detail Report that shows that Isak was unarmed for almost two hours when law enforcement engaged and essentially killed him.” She continued, “We wanted to specifically address how this 911 phone call, with confirmation from the reporting party, was false. How Eagan knew that my brother was not a threat to begin with and how he was compliant and unarmed when they engaged & killed him.”

“The 90 officers on the scene mentally and emotionally tortured Isak. This is their and the media’s attempt to do the same to us. But this proud sister is unfazed. We’ve got an amazing family, community, and group of activists behind us with way too much fight in them to let this effect anything. Like I said, come a little harder next time because these two 20-year-olds have seen and been through more than you could ever imagine. And we’re still here – fighting. Ya’ll can work, but our God works harder.”

#MinneapolisMN #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #PoliceBruatality #IsakAden #Eagan

Eagan, MN – Hundreds of community members rallied and marched on the Twin Cities Premium Outlets in Eagan on Saturday afternoon, July 27, to demand justice for Isak Aden, a Somali man who was killed by police in this Saint Paul suburb on July 2.

Since the suburbs aren’t known as Black Lives Matter strongholds, and the Eagan police had militantly tried to prevent family members and protesters from addressing the city council the week before, the rally was started as a line-up along the public sidewalk with chants and political speeches for an hour. This allowed for the crowd to swell as plans were made for further action.

The rally – speakers were mainly African American, Muslim, or Somali – was followed by a march in the streets around the mall. The march then proceeded into the open mall area. Onlookers were surprised by the protest happening right in front of them. Many in the march and witnessing the action were new to the movement. White working-class, immigrants and oppressed nationality folks expecting a regular Saturday afternoon of shopping were surprised to be interrupted by the protest.

The protesters exited the mall and then hit the streets again. They took over a four-lane highway to reach the site were Isak Aden was murdered. On that day, over 90 police officers from several jurisdictions riddled Isak with bullets as he sat alone on a curb in a light industrial park. One the cops who murdered Isak had transferred to Eagan after having killed a young white man in Duluth, Minnesota.

The family spoke to the crowd of marchers about how the BCA won’t release footage, likely because they lied about the incident, saying to the family over the phone that they would wait for Isak to surrender, that he was inside the building, that shots they heard over the phone were about getting into the building instead of the shots fired to kill the young Somali man. A witness indicated that Isak was never inside the building and in fact he was cornered into a small loading area outside the building, he had no chance of escape, and then was slaughtered like he wasn’t even human.

After the family spoke, the marchers returned to their starting point. Upon return, mall security had increased. The family insisted on making another go through the mall. Although the protest was in its third hour through 90-plus degree weather in open sun, the protesters’ spirits were high. Marshals and the tactical team, in collaboration with the family, positioned the crowd to hit the mall again.

Again, mallgoers, unused to protest in the exurbs, were shocked as the protesters entered the public area. Many people began filming the protest. The observers were predominantly immigrants, oppressed nationality African Americans, Somali and white people, all of whom were mostly working class. Support for the protest grew and observers began chanting, raising fists, and clapping. This included almost all shoppers and even managers from stores. There was hardly anyone who was openly hostile.

Aden’s family, with the support of the crowd, led the political speeches. At one point, undercover security tried to approach the family. Marshals quickly cut them off. The protesters, who greatly outnumbered the security forces, then began to chase away the security guards who, upon realizing their tactical disadvantage, began to retreat.

The protest ended with Jaylani Hussein of the Minnesota Council of Arab and Islamic Relations (CAIR) addressing the crowd. Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar (TCC4J) made a call to action to support Justice for Jamar and the ongoing organizing for Justice for Isak Aden.

Earlier this month, TCC4J, one of the ad-hoc coalition partners, sent a demand letter to the city of Eagan mayor and city council. The demands are “1) Release the unedited body worn video and squad cam footage, 2) Ensure a fair, unbiased, independent, honest, transparent, professional and timely investigation. No more cover-ups for the police by the BCA! No grand jury! Turn the investigation over to the community groups already investigating the case. If such an organization cannot be found, turn the prosecution over to an unbiased prosecutor to indict, convict, and send the cops responsible to jail. 3) Instruct all other agencies involved in Isak’s death to also meet demands.”

The Justice for Isak Aden ad-hoc coalition has unified with the family and is comprised of: Anti-War Committee, Black Lives Matter Minnesota, Black Lives Matter Twin Cities Metro, Blue Lies Murder, CAIR-MN, Communities United Against Police Brutality, Cop Watch Minneapolis, Justice for Justine Damond Ruszczyk, Justice for Marcus Golden, Minnesota Neighbors for Justice, Movement Support Network, Native Lives Matter, Racial Justice Network, Take A Knee Nation, and the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar.

#EaganMN #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #IsakAden