Details were released Monday regarding the search warrant executed at the family home of Dolal Idd, who was shot and killed by Minneapolis police last week during an attempted traffic stop.
Hennepin County Sheriff Dave Hutchinson is also defending the conduct of his officers during the search after the family made accusations of mistreatment.
Idd was shot and killed on Wednesday evening in an encounter with Minneapolis police during an attempted traffic stop in a gas station parking lot near E. 36th Street and Cedar Avenue in south Minneapolis. Initial information released by the Minneapolis Police Department stated that Idd had exchanged gunfire with officers and that he shot at police first.
In the early morning hours that followed the shooting, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office executed a high-risk search warrant at the family’s home on the 99xx block of Lee Drive in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, where Idd reportedly resided.
Bayle Adod Gelle, Idd’s father, subsequently aired complaints about the warrant search to Sahan Journal, which describes itself as a non-profit digital newsroom dedicated to reporting for and about immigrants and refugees in Minnesota.
Gelle described the experience as a “harrowing police raid” in which he said officers pointed guns at him and his wife and then tied their hands tightly with a cord. Gelle said officers also pointed guns at three of their young children. “I thought they were going to kill us,” he said.
Gelle said officers told him to “shut up.” He said they ransacked the house and never showed him a search warrant — until the end, which was when they told him his son had been killed, the report said.
Following Sahan Journal’s report, Hennepin County Sheriff Dave Hutchinson responded to the accusations. Hutchinson said that after reviewing the officers’ body-worn cameras, he believed the deputies acted professionally and politely and followed procedure during execution of the search warrant.
Here is our previously released statement with a previous typo corrected. We regret the error. pic.twitter.com/teSvK5rSqC
— Hennepin Sheriff (@HennepinSheriff) January 2, 2021
On Saturday, Hutchinson’s office released about 28 minutes of body-worn camera video from the warrant search. The accompanying press release referenced the allegations that deputies had “acted inappropriately, inhumanely, and with excessive force.” Hutchinson said in the release that the body-worn camera video “tells a different story.”
Hutchinson justified the use of HCSO SWAT members to assist the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) with their investigation because the search warrant indicated there was probable cause to believe guns were in the home.
The video’s title indicates that parts of the video have been redacted for public viewing. The video shows the officers’ arrival and entry into the home. After entering, the officers can be seen and heard for several minutes ordering people from areas throughout the house into the living room where some of the occupants are put into zip-tie style handcuffs. After officers check the furniture, they help the residents get seated on the couches. One officer speaks to each person and takes note of their names and dates of birth. The video does not show what other officers in other areas of the house are doing.
THE WARRANT
On Monday afternoon, details were released about why the search warrant had been executed, and it detailed that Idd had been under surveillance and suspected of illegal gun sales at the time of the attempted traffic stop and shooting.
Idd was prohibited from possessing firearms due to a prior conviction on carrying a firearm without a permit. The charge stemmed from a 2018 incident in which he was accused of firing a gun inside the basement of his mother’s home very near where two other children were sleeping.
The search warrant application said that crime scene personnel from the BCA spotted a black and silver handgun between Idd’s body and the center console of the car he was driving, according to a report on the warrant by the Pioneer Press.
The warrant application also indicated that investigators were working with a confidential informant through whom they were trying to purchase a “high-capacity pistol” from Idd. The informant told police that Idd had firearms at his home, the report said.
BCA Special Agent Brandon Johnson said in the search warrant application that due to Idd’s history of weapons and narcotics arrests, he requested the nighttime raid of Idd’s home, which is owned by Idd’s father. Police were also concerned that evidence could be moved or destroyed when Idd’s family learned of his death. The agent also noted that Idd’s brother, who had also lived at the home, was recently arrested by Bloomington police in a fatal shooting.
Agents did not recover any firearms, ammunition, or other evidence they sought to find in the home during the warrant search.
It was also reported on Monday that the Dakota County Attorney’s Office will review the case of the Minneapolis police officer-involved shooting of Idd to determine whether the officers were legally justified to use deadly force in the encounter. County Attorney James Backstrom said his office was handling the case under a prior agreement between several metro counties in which cases of this nature are investigated by outside agencies in order to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest by the agencies or counties involved.
Alpha News will continue to provide updates on this case as they develop.
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Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
Crime Watch MN
Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
