"I felt we weren't going to make it": 911 caller recounts bullets flying through her apartment before fatal police shooting
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- When she heard the first loud bang Wednesday evening, Arabella Yarbrough didn't think it was a gunshot. Then, a bullet tore through the kitchen wall of her south Minneapolis apartment.
She grabbed her two young sons, ran into the bedroom and called 911. It marked the start of a six-hour standoff in the Seward neighborhood that ended Thursday morning with police snipers fatally shooting 20-year-old Andrew "Tekle" Sundberg.
Yarbrough told WCCO-TV that bullets were flying through her apartment as she ran to unlock a metal door to let officers inside.
"I said, 'Please go get my kids, go get my kids," Yarbrough said, describing what she told first-responders. "So they hurry up and they are trying to dodge bullets too to go get my kids."
The single mom says she feared for their lives. "I felt we weren't going to make it," she said, with emotion in her voice.
Yarbrough was outside the building through the night as officers tried to negotiate with Sundberg.
"The police were really patient, because he was still shooting at us," Yarbrough said. "Police had every right to kill that man, Black or white ...That right there, police did their job, and they took their time."
While looking at photos of bullet holes in her home, Yarbrough said she felt traumatized. The images show several bullet holes in her kitchen wall, bathroom, front door, and windowsill.
"I didn't realize that's how many shots were fired," she said.
According to search warrants filed by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, two Minneapolis SWAT snipers shot Sundberg early Thursday morning, fatally wounding him. He died at Hennepin Healthcare.
Investigators noted that they recovered multiple live and spent rounds outside Sundberg's apartment, as well as a loaded pistol with an extended magazine inside the apartment.
The search warrants show that less-than-lethal rounds were also recovered from the scene, although it's unclear when or if they were used.
On Thursday night, Sundberg's family held a vigil outside the apartment complex. A page to raise funds for Sundberg's funeral called him a brother, an uncle and a son, adding that he was a talented artist and full of energy.
"Like millions in America and worldwide, Tekle struggled with his mental health," his family said in a statment. "While we have received very little information thus far, by all accounts, it sounds like our Tekle was suffering from a mental health crisis. We send our deepest sympathies to anyone in his building impacted by his crisis, and we thank the community members who have come forward in loving memory of Tekle."
Attorneys Ben Crump and Jeff Storm are representing Sundberg's family. The civil rights attorneys also represented the family of George Floyd and won a record $27 million wrongful death settlement with city of Minneapolis in that case.
In a statement, the attorneys said that the family rejects the narrative that the police department's efforts were done in collaboration with relatives, adding that what exactly led up to the fatal shooting remains unclear.
"No information has been provided as to why Tekle, who officers had isolated for hours, suddenly needed to be executed," they said. "We call on the Minneapolis Police Department to immediately provide the family with the video evidence and other information necessary to answer this question."
