There will be no charges filed in last year’s officer-involved shooting in St. Paul that resulted in the death of 65-year-old Yia Xiong.
In a joint statement released Wednesday from the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office (RCAO) and the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office (AGO), the agencies said that criminal charges are not warranted in the incident that occurred on Feb. 11, 2023.
According to a summary of the incident earlier reported by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), Officer Abdirahmin Dahir and Officer Noushue Cha responded to an apartment building at 160 Western Avenue South around 5 p.m. that day on reports of a man threatening residents with a knife.
When they arrived, residents directed officers toward a hallway where Xiong was located holding a knife. Xiong’s apartment door was at the end of the short hallway. Officers made verbal contact with Xiong and told him to drop the knife. Xiong did not respond, turning to unlock his apartment door and go inside. As Xiong went inside his apartment and the door began to close, the officers kicked the door to stop it from fully shutting and ordered him to come out. They then backed away from the door and down the short hallway. Xiong opened the door and stepped into the hallway, knife still in-hand. Both officers then fired their respective weapons: Officer Abdirahman Dahir fired his department rifle; Officer Noushue Cha deployed his Taser. First responders attempted to provide medical aid, but Xiong died at the scene.
Body-worn camera footage from the incident was released by the St. Paul Police Department which showed the officers ordering Xiong to drop the knife and Xiong refusing to comply with commands to stop before he was shot.
The decision not to charge the officer who shot Xiong relied in part on an independent review from use-of-force expert Jeff Noble. In his report submitted to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, Noble stated that after reviewing the evidence in the case, his opinion was that “Officer Dahir and Cha’s lives were at imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury” at the moment Xiong was shot by Officer Dahir.
Noble is the same expert witness whose opinion Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty disregarded before proceeding to charge State Trooper Ryan Londregan in the death of Ricky Cobb, according to court documents filed earlier this month by Londregan’s attorneys. In the Londregan case, Noble reportedly indicated to Moriarty that “a reasonable officer in Trooper Londregan’s position would have perceived that Trooper [Brett] Seide was in danger of death or great bodily harm, specifically from being dragged by the vehicle as it continued to accelerate.”
The press release in the Xiong case noted that Noble has served as an expert use-of-force witness on prior prosecutions by the RCAO and AGO, including the prosecutions of Jeronimo Yanez in Ramsey County and Derek Chauvin in Hennepin County.
“Anytime deadly force is used by the government, it is a tragedy for all those involved, and it requires prosecutors to seek the truth without bias, fear, or favor and do the right thing,” said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi. “The facts of this case and our use of force expert’s opinion led us to conclude that Officer Abdirahmin Dahir’s use of deadly force was justified under the law and that no criminal charges are appropriate. I am deeply saddened that this legal decision may deepen the pain for Mr. Yia Xiong’s family and community members who wanted something different. I want to thank Attorney General Keith Ellison and his staff for joining my office in reviewing this tragic case.”
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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.
