A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a Minneapolis man after a yearlong pattern of harassment and intimidation against his neighbors that culminated in a shooting earlier this week, court documents show.

John Herbert Sawchak, 54, faces charges of attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, stalking and bias harassment.

The victim, Davis Moturi, installed a security camera at his home to capture evidence of the growing threats. Video of the incident Wednesday night shows him cutting down a tree near the property line with Sawchak’s apartment building before a “pop” was heard. The victim then falls backwards to the ground.

“I said, ‘I need help.’ Part of my brain shut down,” Davis Moturi told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS from his hospital bed Friday.

He called his wife, Caroline Moturi, who ran home.

“We found him – he was in the entryway, curled up in the fetal position in agony,” said Caroline Moturi.

She took her husband to the hospital, but he didn’t realize he had been shot.

According to a criminal complaint, a medical evaluation found that Davis Moturi had been shot with a small-caliber bullet that lodged near his spine. The angle of the stab wound indicated he had been shot from above and the bullet entered his neck before fracturing his spine and at least two ribs.

Caroline Moturi told police that Sawchak “almost certainly” shot her husband, according to the complaint.

A year of threats

The couple purchased their home in the 3500 block of Grand Avenue South in September 2023. Since then, they told police they have faced numerous threats from Sawchak, who lives in a second-floor apartment next door .

“It’s been hell,” Davis Moturi said of the ongoing ordeal.

A week before the shooting, Sawchak allegedly told Moturi, “Touch my tree again and I’ll kill you.” He threatened Davis Moturi on the tree as early as October 2023.

Other incidents included threatening to “put the victim in the hospital” while working on a ladder, throwing objects at him from a second floor window and threateningly holding a knife through the window while threatening the couple. On October 14, Sawchak had pointed a gun at the victim from his window. According to the complaint, many of the threats were accompanied by slurs and racial slurs.

In total, the Moturi family had reported 19 incidents of vandalism, property damage, harassment and threats in the year they lived next door.

“I had to call the police so many times,” Davis Moturi said.

No arrests Monday

Online jail records show Sawchak has not yet been taken into custody. Court records show he has at least three other outstanding warrants related to “threats or acts of violence” against the victim and his neighbors.

A spokesman for Hennepin County District Attorney Mary Moriarty said her office charged Sawchak with threats of violence in July “as a result of his conduct toward Mr. Moturi” and issued a warrant for his arrest. When filing charges in connection with Wednesday’s shooting, prosecutors learned of several incidents that occurred since that warrant was issued.

“Mr. Moturi and his wife suffered from Mr. Sawchak’s aggressive behavior for more than a year after they bought their home in September 2023,” the Prosecutor’s Office said. “We will continue to do everything in our power to try to hold Mr Sawchak accountable and protect Mr Moturi, his wife and the wider community from his violent behaviour.”

Ward 8 City Council Member Andrea Jenkins — who represents the Moturi family — sent a letter with support from fellow council members, expressing outrage that Sawchak was never arrested on those outstanding warrants and was left to terrorize a family who had reported repeated threats.

“We are writing today appalled by MPD’s failure to protect a Minneapolis resident from a clear, persistent and widely reported threat posed by his neighbor,” the letter to Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O’Hara reads.

The letter alleges MPD failed to forward reports to Moriarty’s office when Moturis reported Sawchak threatened them with a knife and then a gun in the weeks leading up to the shooting. Additionally, the letter says that “MPD told the HCAO that they do not intend to execute the warrant ‘for officer safety reasons.’

“MPD’s failure to act has left Mr Moturi asking: ‘Am I not human like you?’ We echo Mr. Moturi’s heartbreaking question as to why the MPD did not protect this black man from a clear and serious threat and why they continue to do so by not cooperating with the County Attorney’s Office and failing to arrest the suspect,” the letter reads. . “We also have many questions about how and why MPD leadership and the mayor allowed this situation to escalate.”

Chief O’Hara strikes

In a fiery news conference Friday, Chief O’Hara defended his police department’s handling of the case and blamed the media, the Hennepin County District Attorney’s office, the Minneapolis City Council and even the victim for allowing the dispute to fester. turns into violence.

O’Hara said officers tried several times to arrest Sawchak, but he never came out of his home and did not respond to police attempts to make contact.

He said with the suspect being mentally ill and known to have a gun, there was a “high” likelihood that the execution of a high-risk search warrant would result in a violent confrontation.

“We wanted to arrest the suspect where he would be least likely to have access to firearms. That’s outside the residence,” O’Hara said, adding that as of Wednesday, MPD only had one warrant for the threats Sawchak made. “Unfortunately, in this case, the suspect is a recluse and doesn’t leave the house often.”

O’Hara went on to blame Davis Moturi for not notifying an MPD lieutenant when Sawchak left the house. He said Davis Moturi should have left the tree alone on his property after Sawchak threatened him about it.

“The situation escalated in part because of actions that were precipitated by the victim,” O’Hara said.

The chief then took aim at the “current rhetoric around the police” and said it “hinders our ability to make lawful arrests”.

“Anyone who suggests that the police do not want to arrest this person is simply wrong. To be honest, the officers are scared though. They’re afraid of being prosecuted if they make a mistake trying to do their job and protect the public,” O’Hara said. “… It’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

The chief also expressed his frustrations with the letter to City Council members, claiming no one tried to call him before sending it. Jenkins, who attended the press conference, told reporters he contacted O’Hara, Frey, Moriarty and an MPD inspector “many, many times” before Wednesday’s shooting.

O’Hara answered just two questions from the media before leaving the briefing room, but Councilman Jenkins followed him into a hallway, where they had a heated exchange behind a closed door before ending with a hug.

Jenkins didn’t mince words when asked about O’Hara’s remarks about officers being afraid to confront Sawchak in his home.

“I can tell you this: We pay our officers a lot of money to do the job they signed up to do, so they should be willing to do their job,” Jenkins said. “I think that’s what the chief of police said, that everybody should do their job.”

Moturi said, “he knows there is no defense for what happened” in response to Chief O’Hara’s explanation during the press conference. He called O’Hara’s remarks offensive and disagreed with his account of events. According to Maturi, “When I asked for help, the crickets.”

He also told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the suggestion that his actions contributed to the shooting was “so disrespectful and rude.”

“They treated me like I was the criminal because they messed up and they have no way to explain,” Moturi said. “I feel like I’m being treated this way because of the color of my skin.”