Protests Held, Lawsuit Filed Over Deadly Police Shooting In Eagan

EAGAN, MN — The family of a Somali-American man who was shot and killed by police in Eagan in 2019 has filed a federal lawsuit against the departments involved. The civil rights suit claims that, despite the findings of Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom, police were not legally justified in using deadly force against 23-year-old Isak Aden.

Last week, on the one-year anniversary of Aden's death, protesters shut down Highway 13 in Eagan.

According to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension — on July 2, 2019 — Eagan police officers responded to a report of a man pointing a gun at a woman and threatening her in the area of Highway 13 and Burgundy Drive. Both of them were inside the same vehicle at the time, authorities said.

Police say Aden then fled into a small wooded area near Highway 13 and Silver Bell Road.

Law enforcement tracked Aden to a parking lot next to a business on Seneca Road. Officers negotiated with Aden for nearly four hours.

According to the report from Backstrom's office:

Three flashbangs were ignited and thrown towards Aden. Less lethal munitions were also fired by two officers and it is believed two of these struck Aden.

Unfortunately Aden did not surrender and instead got up from a seated position, lunged for the gun near him, picked it up and began to raise his right hand with the gun in it. It was later determined Aden fired the gun after he picked it up. Fearing for the life of the numerous law enforcement officers at the scene, five police officers at that time fired lethal rounds, a number of which struck and killed Aden. This entire incident, from the time of the deployment of the first flashbang until the lethal rounds were fired, occurred within about six seconds.

The police officers who fired lethal rounds at Isak Aden were:

• Eagan Officer Jacob Peterson
• Bloomington Officer Matthew Ryan
• Bloomington Officer Anthony Kiehl
• Bloomington Officer Adam Stier
• Bloomington Officer Daniel Nelson

In November, Backstrom announced that he believed the use of force in the incident was justified:

"The use of deadly force by a peace officer is justified to protect the officer or another person from death or great bodily harm. It is our conclusion that it was objectively reasonable for these five police officers to subjectively believe Aden posed a deadly threat to other officers at the scene of this incident at the time they fired their service weapons and, therefore, they were legally justified in using deadly force in this instance."

However, the attorney for Aden's family disputes Backstrom's narrative of the incident. "It is pretty clear that at the time they elected to shoot, he was not threatening anyone," Matthew Lawlyes told the Star Tribune.

Lawlyes believes Aden picked up his handgun after less-lethal rounds were fired, but then put the gun down and raised his left hand to surrender. According to Lawlyes, Aden accidentally fired the gun after officers shot him with lethal rounds.

Aden was studying information technology at the University of Minnesota when he was killed.

Read the full report from Backstrom below: