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The lawyer for one of the US police officers involved in the shooting death of Australian Justine Damond says it is "certainly reasonable" his client feared he was the target of an ambush.
Minneapolis lawyer Fred Bruno, who represents Officer Matthew Harrity, pointed to the recent execution of a New York police officer gunned down as she sat in her car.
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The probe into the fatal shooting of Justine Damond by Minneapolis police turns to why the officers' body cameras were not on at the time.
"It's certainly reasonable to assume that any police officer would be concerned about a possible ambush under these circumstances," Mr Bruno told the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper.
"It was only a few weeks ago when a female NYPD cop and mother of twins was executed in her car in a very similar scenario."
Justine Damond was troubled by the culture of violence in the US, said her friend Letta Page. Photo: Stephen Govel
NYPD Officer Miosotis Familia was shot in the head on July 5 while sitting in her car in the Bronx.
Officer Harrity was driving a squad car and his partner, Officer Mohamed Noor, was in the passenger seat as they travelled down an alley at the rear of Ms Damond's home just before midnight on Saturday.
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Ms Damond had earlier called 911 after hearing a woman's screams from the area.
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Officer Harrity told investigators he heard a loud noise just before Ms Damond, dressed in her pyjamas, approached their vehicle.
He said Officer Noor, from the passenger seat, shot across him and through the open driver's window, fatally striking Ms Damond in the stomach.
A mobile phone was found next to her body.
The "twin cities" of Minneapolis and St Paul have been rocked in recent years by police shootings, putting the community and law enforcement on edge.
Last month a police officer was acquitted after he shot Philando Castile during a traffic stop while Castile's girlfriend live streamed the horrifying incident.
Violent protests also erupted after two officers fatally shot 24-year-old Jamar Clark in 2015 and were not charged.
Unlike Officer Harrity, Officer Noor has refused to talk to investigators from Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the agency charged with conducting the independent probe into the shooting.
"We cannot compel officer Noor to make a statement," a frustrated Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday.