lawsuit alleges cops planted gun after police shooting

In Minneapolis, the family of 19-year-old Fong Lee, who was shot and killed nearly three years ago by a rookie police officer during a chase on an elementary school playground, filed a lawsuit alleging that the gun found near his body was not actually in his possession, but planted by police on the scene: Suit alleges Minneapolis cops planted gun by man they killed.

The officer, Jason Andersen, claimed Lee a gun, although he said he never directly pointed it at him. The gun, a Russian-made Baikal .380, was found 2 feet from Lee's body after he was shot nine times. A grand jury cleared the Andersen of any criminal wrongdoing and the Police Department's internal investigation found he didn't violate any procedures.

But new evidence suggests that the gun in question had actually been in police possession, not Lee's, for nearly two years before the shooting. According to a police report, the gun found near Lee's body was the same gun recovered from a burglary in north Minneapolis in 2004, apparently inventoried and kept in the department's property room since the burglary.

So how exactly did it get there on July 22, 2006, just two feet from Fong Lee's body? Something very deceptive and deliberate is happening here on the part of the police. More here: Lawsuit: Minneapolis cops planted pistol on teen after they gunned him down. And here: Expert: Teen unarmed when Minneapolis cop shot and killed him.