Medical examiner report of Winston Smith fatal shooting released
Winston Boogie Smith was fatally shot by law enforcement officers at 2:11 p.m. Thursday on a parking ramp in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis. He died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to a report from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office.
As expected, the medical examiner ruled the manner of Smith's death a homicide, which notes that the manner of death "is not a legal determination of culpability or intent."
"Under Minnesota state law, the Medical Examiner is a neutral and independent office and is separate and distinct from any prosecutorial authority or law enforcement agency," the report says.
What the BCA says happened
The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said law enforcement members serving on the U.S. Marshals' joint North Star Fugitive Task Force were alerted to the location of a man (32-year-old Smith, of St. Paul) who had a warrant out for a felony firearms violation on Friday
The task force "made contact with him" on the top level of the parking ramp at 1405 W. Lake Street, "in an attempt to take him into custody."
The BCA alleged that "at one point a Hennepin County sheriff’s deputy and a Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy serving on the task force discharged their weapons, striking the man." Smith died at the scene.
The BCA said "evidence at the scene indicates that the man fired his weapon from inside the vehicle." BCA personnel found a handgun and spent cartridge casings from inside the driver's compartment.
The BCA says the U.S. Marshal Service does not allow the use of body cameras on the North Star Fugitive Task Force, so there is no body camera video, nor is there squad camera video of the deadly encounter.
Smith was a musician who also went by the name Wince Me Boi. A post on Facebook by a woman who identifies herself as Smith's cousin says he was a father, while Smith's Facebook page says he previously attended Roosevelt Senior High School in south Minneapolis.
