BCA 'Not Aware' Of Video Of Winston Smith Shooting; Won't Identify Undercover Officers Who Fired
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said Wednesday it is "not aware" of any video of deputies from Hennepin and Ramsey counties fatally shooting Winston Smith atop an Uptown Minneapolis parking ramp last week.
The BCA is asking anyone who captured video of the shooting to contact investigators at 651-793-7000.
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The bureau also said it cannot release the identity of the two deputies who fired at Smith because they were working undercover.
A federal task force made up of deputies from several Minnesota law enforcement agencies and U.S. Marshals confronted Smith at the top of a parking ramp on Lake Street June 3.
Officials said Smith, who was wanted for a felony firearms violation, wouldn't surrender and pulled out a gun. It was then that a Hennepin County deputy and a Ramsey County deputy shot him.
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The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office said he died of multiple gunshot wounds.
There was no body or squad camera footage of the shooting, which officials said was because of a policy prohibiting local agencies from wearing body cameras while assigned to the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, also called the Northstar Violent Offender Task Force.
Though that policy was changed in 2020, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said the U.S. Marshals Service has not actually implemented the change in Minnesota. As a result, both the Ramsey County and Hennepin County sheriff's offices have said they will pull their deputies from the task force until body cameras are allowed.