News: UPDATE 1-Minneapolis police chief resigns after Australian woman's shooting

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    (Adds details from statement, background on police shooting)

    July 21 (Reuters) - Minneapolis police chief Janee Harteau issued her resignation on Friday following the fatal police shooting of an unarmed Australian woman, saying that she did so after "deep reflection."

    In an announcement posted on the Minneapolis Police Department's Facebook page entitled "resignation statement from Chief Harteau," she said: "I've decided I am willing to step aside to let a fresh set of leadership eyes see what more can be done for the MPD to be the very best it can be."

    The death of Justine Damond, 40, from a single gunshot wound to the abdomen fired through an open window of a police patrol car, has outraged her relatives and the public in Australia. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called it "shocking" and "inexplicable."

    Harteau's statement come a day after she told reporters during her first news conference following Damond's death that the shooting violated department training and procedures and that the victim "didn't have to die."

    "Last Saturday's tragedy, as well as some other recent incidents, have caused me to engage in deep reflection," Harteau said in her statement on Friday. "Despite the MPD's many accomplishments under my leadership over these years and my love for the city, I have to put the communities we serve first."

 
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