Tekle Sundberg shooting: 911 caller claimed 'stalker' was shooting at her

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Photos from the scene show the bullet damage to Arabella Yarbrough's apartment. (Arabella Yarbrough / Supplied)

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Newly-released 911 transcripts are offering a glimpse into the chaotic moments after police say shots were fired by Andrew Tekle Sundberg into a neighboring apartment, sparking a six-hour standoff that ended with Sundberg being shot and killed by police.

Arabella Yarbrough has said she was cooking food for her children on July 13 when Tekle Sundberg fired bullets into their home, nearly hitting them. Police responded and helped Yarbrough escape when, according to police, Sundberg also fired at officers. That led to a six-hour standoff outside the building that lasted until MPD snipers killed the 20-year-old early the next morning.  

"I literally had five minutes to live while he had six hours to choose life or death. The police stated they did not want to kill him," Yarbrough told protesters over the weekend.

According to the 911 transcripts, a caller presumably Yarbrough first reported to a 911 dispatcher that, "there's a bullet hole through my apartment… I got grazed a little bit. It went straight through my wall… I don't know if the bullet hit me or if it was like, glass that hit me cause it went through my wall and it hit a glass vase on my table."

After being asked whether or not they had been shot, or is bleeding, the caller says, "I don't know if I should shoot back. I have license to carry..." to which the dispatcher responds, "I would not recommend that. We're getting an officer out there as fast as we can."

While describing the entrance of the apartment building and how officers could enter, the caller is asked whether she knows who might be doing the shooting, to which they reply that it's coming from Apartment 318, and that, "he's been having issues with me and like, stalking me cause I won't give him attention and I don't know if he's been upset lately."

Later adding: "I know that guy does not like me. For some odd reason he's been stalking me and I think [inaudible] a stalker cause he's the only one who could do that."

In the days following Sundberg's death, Yarbrough has been adamant that his death should not be compared to other deaths at the hands of police that have gained notoriety throughout the country.

"That man [Tekle Sundberg] was armed. George Floyd was not armed. Breonna Taylor was not armed. Amir Locke he was armed and he had his own guns, but they came into his home while he's licensed to carry and killed him. He did not... fire. This man intentionally tried to kill us," Yarbrough said Saturday.

Both Yarbrough and Sundberg's family say things could have ended differently if he was able to get the mental health support he needed.

His parents, Cindy and Mark Sundberg adopted Tekle from Ethiopia when he was just four years old.

"My heart goes out to that woman (Yarbrough). She went through a very traumatic event with those bullets coming through her house," said Mark Sundberg on Saturday. "It's two different incidents. It's the shots going through her [wall] and what we are here for when Tekle was shot."