Families of 5 men killed by Minnesota police reach settlement with state crime bureau

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Families of five men killed by police have reached a settlement with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in their lawsuit over investigative files surrounding the fatal shootings.

The $165,000 settlement was reached Monday. The families’ attorney, Paul Bosman, said they will have full access to the files, and the agency will tell families in the future how to obtain such reports and how to obtain their relatives’ assets, the Pioneer Press reported .

“These families had only heard police press releases, police union statements and county attorneys’ arguments not to charge the officers involved,” Bosman said. ‘Their neighbors had heard that too. They could not defend the names of their loved ones or put their grief to rest because even though they were entitled to the information about what happened, the BCA did not give it to them.”

Prosecutors have cleared the officers of wrongdoing in all the shootings. The families’ lawsuit, filed in November, alleged the agency violated Minnesota’s open records laws.

“Prior to the filing of this lawsuit, the BCA had already sought and secured funding from the Legislature to strengthen our data practices team,” the agency said in a statement. “The number of requests for data from the BCA has increased dramatically in recent years and this additional funding and staffing will mean faster responses for anyone requesting information in the years to come.”

The families include those of Brent Alsleben, Dolal Idd, Zachary Shogren, Okwan Sims and Tekle Sundberg, who were killed by police between 2020 and 2023.