Family, friends remember Aussie woman shot in US in touching Sydney sunrise vigil
Family and friends of the Australian woman shot dead by a police officer in the US held a vigil in her honour this morning.
They gathered at Freshwater on Sydney's northern beaches at sunrise to remember Justine Ruszczyk Damond, amid growing demands to know why she was killed by Minneapolis cop Mohamed Noor.
Ms Ruszczyk Damond was set to marry her fiancé Don Damond in just a few weeks time.
The vigil was led by her father John Ruszczyk and paid silent tribute to the 40-year-old, who was originally from the Sydney northern beaches suburb before moving to the US.
Earlier, Mr Ruszczyk said the family was devastated by the death and described his daughter as "extremely special".
"Justine was a beacon to all of us, we only ask that the light of justice shine down on the circumstances of her death," he said
She went to school at nearby Manly High and Freshwater was her local beach.
Participants of the vigil lit candles and placed pink flowers on the water in her memory.
Ms Ruszczyk Damond was fatally shot in the stomach by the police officer on Saturday night, local time.
He fired across his partner at the pyjama-clad Australian from inside a police vehicle after she had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault near her Fulton home.
US authorities have ruled her death a homicide and started an investigation into the matter.
At the vigil candles were arranged in the shape of a heart in the middle of the goup and a friend of Ms Ruszczyk Damond, Matt Omo, played a gong and a didgeridoo at the ceremony, which mourners were asked to arrive at and leave in silence.
Meanwhile, friend Jay Peterson has revealed that the "passionate" and "generous" life coach had donated her own eggs to a friend who had been struggling to fall pregnant, US channel Fox 9 reports.
It has emerged also that the officer that shot her was already under investigation, accused of “violently and forcibly” detaining another woman.
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A complaint by a woman against the 31-year-old rookie policeman Mohamed Noor and another officer alleges he “violently and forcibly detained her and transported her against her will”.
Still ongoing, the complaint accuses the junior officer of false imprisonment, battery, assault, negligence, and violating civil rights.
Noor has “two open complaints against him from 2017 and one from 2016" according to local media.
His career as a police officer started in 2015.
