A man accused of shooting a neighbor in Minneapolis had a history of threats and harassment

An arrest warrant has been issued for a Minneapolis man following a year of harassment and intimidation against his neighbors that culminated in a shooting earlier this week, court documents say.

John Herbert Sawchak, 54, is charged with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, stalking and bias harassment.

The victim, Davis Moturi, installed a surveillance camera in his home to capture evidence of the escalating threats. Video of the incident on Wednesday night shows him trimming a tree near the property line of Sawchuk’s home before a “bang” is heard. The victim then collapses backwards to the ground.

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

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

“I found him – he was lying in the entryway, curled up in a fetal position, in pain,” Caroline Moturi said.

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

According to a criminal complaint, a medical examination revealed that Davis Moturi had been shot with a small-caliber bullet that lodged near his spine. The angle of the stab wound suggested he had been shot from above and the bullet had entered through 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 full of threats

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

“It was hell,” Davis Moturi said of the ongoing ordeal.

The week before the shooting, Sawchak allegedly told Moturi, “Touch my tree again and I will kill you.” He had already threatened Davis Moturi about the tree in October 2023.

Other incidents included threatening to “take the victim to the hospital” while he was working on a ladder, throwing objects at his second-story window and threateningly holding a knife in his window while threatening the couple. On October 14, Sawchak pointed a gun at the victim from his window. According to the complaint, many of the threats included racial slurs and slurs.

In total, the Moturis 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.

Months without an arrest

Online prison records show that 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 spokeswoman for Hennepin District Attorney Mary Moriarty said her office had already charged Sawchak with threats of violence in July “due to his behavior toward Mr. Moturi” and issued a warrant for his arrest. As prosecutors filed charges in connection with Wednesday’s shooting, they became aware of several incidents that had occurred since the arrest warrant was issued.

“Mr. Moturi and his wife suffered from Mr. Sawchak’s aggressive behavior for over a year after purchasing their home in September 2023,” the prosecutor’s office said. “We will continue to do everything in our power to protect Mr. Sawchak “To hold Mr Moturi, his wife and the wider community accountable from his violent behaviour.”

District 8 Councilwoman Andrea Jenkins – who represents the Moturi family – sent a letter supported by other council members expressing outrage that Sawchak was never arrested on those outstanding warrants and was left to fend off a family terrorize who had reported repeated threats.

“We write today with utter horror at MPD’s failure to protect a Minneapolis resident from a clear, persistent and well-reported threat from his neighbor,” said the letter addressed to Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O’Hara addressed letter.

The letter alleges that MPD failed to submit reports to Moriarty’s office when the Moturis reported that Sawchak had threatened them with a knife and then a gun in the weeks before the shooting. Additionally, the letter states, “MPD has advised HCAO that they do not intend to execute the warrant ‘for the safety of officers.’

“MPD’s failure to act has caused Mr. Moturi to ask himself, ‘Am I not a human being like you?’ We echo Mr. Moturi’s heartbreaking question as to why MPD failed to protect this Black resident from a clear and serious threat and why they continue to do so by failing to cooperate with the District Attorney’s Office and arrest the suspect,” it said in the letter. “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 heated press 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 turn violent.

O’Hara said officers attempted to arrest Sawchak multiple times, but he never came out of his home or responded to police attempting to make contact.

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

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

O’Hara accused Davis Moturi of failing to notify 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 through actions initiated by the victim,” O’Hara said.

The chief then took aim at the “current rhetoric surrounding policing,” saying it “impedes our ability to make lawful arrests.”

“Anyone who says the police don’t want to arrest this person is simply wrong. To be honest, however, the officials are afraid. They are afraid of being prosecuted if they make a mistake while 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 frustration with the city council members’ letter, claiming no one tried to call him before sending it out. Jenkins, who attended the news conference, told reporters she had contacted O’Hara, Frey, Moriarty and an MPD inspector “many, many times” before Wednesday’s shooting.

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

Jenkins didn’t mince her words when asked about O’Hara’s comments that officials were afraid to confront Sawchak at his home.

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