Mohamed Noor has said he was ‘startled’ by his victim Justine Damond seconds before he opened fire.
The cop has told friends about why he gunned down the bride-to-be, 40, in his first account of what happened Saturday night.
DailyMail.com has spoken to those friends to reveal for the first time his account of what happened that night.
The fact Noor has disclosed the events of the evening to friends will raise questions over his conduct.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), which is investigating the shooting, said in a statement Tuesday that he had declined to be interviewed and that his attorney had not said if or when an interview would take place.
However, many of the key parts of Noor’s narrative gel with the version of events released by the BCA, who had interviewed his partner, Matthew Harrity.
Justine was unarmed and had called 911 caller to alert police to what she believed may have been a rape taking place in the alley behind her home.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a friend of Noor told DailyMail.com that the officer had opened fire when an unidentified figure emerged from the dark and ran towards the vehicle.
The officer said he was not sure what the person was carrying and momentarily opened fire through his driver-partner’s open window.
It was confirmed that Justine’s cell phone was found alongside her during the tragedy.
Noor told associates it was dark and the situation was already tense as the caller had been ‘panicking’ when making the 911 call reporting an assault in the alley beyond where Justine lived with her fiancé and his son.
The squad car, driven by his partner Matthew Harrity traveled hastily down the unlit alley between Washburn and Xerxes avenues south from West 50th Street toward West 51st Street.