The U.S. Department of Justice's finding of a pattern of discriminatory policing in Minneapolis was hardly surprising to the family of Andrew Tekle Sundberg.

Sundberg, a Black man, was shot and killed in July 2022 by a Minneapolis SWAT team, amid what his family said was a mental health crisis. Sundberg's parents and one of his sisters spoke Friday during a small rally in downtown Minneapolis after the Department of Justice report was released.

"We'll never get to see him grow older. We have to mourn all this in the midst of fighting the system," said Sundberg's mother, Cindy Sundberg, who said she has been struggling to get answers from Minneapolis police and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension about her son's death. "To have to fight a system when your heart is broken."

Cindy and Mark Sundberg, whose son, Tekle Sundberg, was shot and killed by Minneapolis police during a standoff last year, held photos of their son while speaking during a rally outside the Hennepin County Government Center on Friday in Minneapolis.
Aaron Lavinsky, Star Tribune
Cindy and Mark Sundberg, whose son, Tekle Sundberg, was shot and killed by Minneapolis police during a standoff last year, held photos of their son while speaking during a rally outside the Hennepin County Government Center on Friday in Minneapolis.

The report's findings — of excessive force, discrimination against Black and Native people, violations of free speech rights and discrimination against people with behavioral health difficulties in crisis — rang true to many family members who gathered Friday. But families and advocates were frustrated it has taken a federal investigation to show these problems, when they said they had been raising concerns for years.

"Everyone in Minneapolis has known about it," said Janaya Sundberg, one of Tekle Sundberg's sisters.

While the report was validating, family members said it offered no sense of closure or relief from grief.

"Just doing anything in daily life, you think of what could have been, what law enforcement could have done differently," said Shatana Cooper, a sister of Winston Smith, killed by a federal task force that included Ramsey County and Hennepin County deputies in 2021. "His spirit is living through all his kids," Cooper said, pointing to Smith's three children standing with their aunts and uncles. "But he should be here, physically."

Native organizer Tonia Black Elk said she thought it was important that the report addressed police treatment of both Black and Native people in Minneapolis. Her own children have been harassed by police, she said.

"We're living proof of what Minneapolis police do," Black Elk said, but she said the problems go far beyond one police department. "All these [police] organizations stand under a racist flag."

Jolene Anderson, left of center, and close friend Monique Johnson held photos of Monique's son, Howard Johnson during Friday's rally outside the Hennepin County Government Center.
Aaron Lavinsky, Star Tribune
Jolene Anderson, left of center, and close friend Monique Johnson held photos of Monique's son, Howard Johnson during Friday's rally outside the Hennepin County Government Center.

Family members of people killed by police officers in other Minnesota cities — including Monique Johnson, mother of Howard Johnson, killed by St. Paul police in December, and Valerie Castile, the mother of Philando Castile, who was killed by a St. Anthony police officer in July 2016 — called for similar investigations into other police agencies.

"If they're doing it on this side of the river," Castile said in Minneapolis on Friday, "they're doing it on the other side too."

“If they're doing it on this side of the river, they're doing it on the other side of the river too,” said Valerie Castile, whose son, Philando Castile, was shot and killed by a St. Anthony Police officer during a 2016 traffic stop.
Aaron Lavinsky, Star Tribune
“If they're doing it on this side of the river, they're doing it on the other side of the river too,” said Valerie Castile, whose son, Philando Castile, was shot and killed by a St. Anthony Police officer during a 2016 traffic stop.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct which agencies' officers were part of the federal task force that shot and killed Winston Smith. That task force included Hennepin County and Ramsey County deputies.