HCAO Will Not Bring Charges in the Death of Tekle Sundberg

The Hennepin County Attorney's Office has declined to file charges in the July 2022 death of Tekle Sundberg, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Wednesday.

"Mr. Sundberg’s death was a tragedy," Freeman said. "Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Mr. Sundberg. People who are suffering from mental health crises are vulnerable, and encounters between those in crisis and law enforcement must be handled with special care. In this case, tragic as it is, the officers' use of deadly force was legally authorized under Minnesota law."

In preparing the 39-page report outlining the evidence and applicable law, the Office considered hundreds of hours of body-worn camera and other evidence obtained by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). Based on that evidence and the law, and based on the totality of the circumstances known to law enforcement at the time, we have concluded that the officers' use of deadly force was authorized. The report has been reviewed and personally signed by Mike Freeman after review by senior management in the Office's Adult Prosecution Division, including HCAO Criminal Deputy Dan Mabley.

In Minnesota, peace officers are authorized to use deadly force while in the line of duty. Deadly force may be used, however, in limited circumstances. Deadly force is authorized if an objectively reasonable officer would believe, based on the totality of the circumstances known to the officer at the time and without the benefit of hindsight, that such force was necessary to protect the peace officer or another from death or great bodily harm.

Additionally, for deadly force to be legally used, there must be, at minimum, a threat of death or great bodily harm which: (1) can be articulated with specificity, (2) is reasonably likely to occur absent action by the law enforcement officer, and (3) must be addressed through the use of deadly force without unreasonable delay.

Because all of the elements of the use-of-deadly-force statute have been met in this case, as outlined in detail in the Office's report, the officers' use of deadly force was legally authorized, and criminal charges are not appropriate.

It is not possible to know Mr. Sundberg's intentions or exact mental state, but those are not determinative in this legal analysis. Instead, we must analyze the use of deadly force based only on what an objectively reasonable officer in the officers’ positions would have known or perceived, and not on what Mr. Sundberg’s intentions may have been.

The full report is available today at the link below.

As has been the case in previous officer-involved use of force cases, the evidence that was considered in making this determination will be made available to the public on the BCA’s website as soon as possible. Please direct any questions about the timeline for releasing those case materials to the BCA.

Click here to read the full report.