BCA says it won’t review 2013 MPD shooting of Terrance Franklin

State investigators said Tuesday they won’t review the deadly police shooting of Terrance Franklin from 2013, despite the request from Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman.

In a letter provided to 5 INVESTIGATES, Drew Evans, the superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, wrote that "there is no role for the BCA in this case."

Minneapolis police officers shot and killed Franklin, a burglary suspect, after chasing him into a south Minneapolis home.

The officers involving in the shooting were not charged and were cleared of any wrongdoing, but the city ended up paying nearly $800,000 to settle the Franklin family’s lawsuit in February 2020.

Eighteen months later, Freeman asked the BCA’s new unit that focuses on use-of-force cases to take another look at the investigation based on evidence presented in the family’s civil case, primarily a key piece of video evidence taken from across the street of the deadly encounter.

The video doesn’t show much, but as 5 INVESTIGATES reported earlier this year, a federal judge found the audio on the clip raised serious questions about the officers’ version of events.

But in response to Freeman’s request, Evans wrote that the BCA’s new unit was not formed to look at old cases. He said it’s only staffed to handle current and future investigations.

The head of the BCA also disputed claims of "new evidence," writing that Freeman’s office had the same video evidence in the case file the entire time.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office released a statement Tuesday afternoon, saying they are disappointed with the BCA’s decision and are "evaluating their options."

Mike Padden, the Franklin family attorney, also told 5 INVESTIGATES that the decision is disappointing.

"No independent agency has ever done an investigation into the killing of young Mr. Franklin," he said.