© REUTERS/Nick Pfos
Demonstrations erupted in a Minneapolis suburb on Sunday night after a police officer fatally shot a man during a traffic stop.
Crowds of mourners gathered at the site of the shooting, and relatives identified the victim as Daunte Wright, an African American resident of the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center.
Police did not identify the driver and said the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office will release the name once the family was notified.
Chief Tim Gannon of the Brooklyn Center Police Department said officers pulled the man over for a traffic violation and attempted to detain him when they learned of a warrant out for the man's arrest. However, the man reentered his car, at which point an officer shot him.
The car rolled for several blocks until it hit another vehicle, and medical workers pronounced him dead at the scene. One police officer was injured in the incident, the Minneapolis
Star Tribune reported.
Demonstrators later clashed with police outside the Brooklyn Center police headquarters, and
National Guard members arrived in the city shortly before midnight to assist local officers.
Looters targeted the Brooklyn Center Walmart and destroyed several other stores in the vicinity, and looting spread into some parts of Minneapolis overnight.
The incident occurred amid the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer accused of killing George Floyd during his arrest in May 2020. Video of Floyd's arrest, during which Chauvin knelt on Floyd's kneck until he became unconscious, sparked massive riots in Minneapolis and in cities across the U.S.
Comment: Daunte Wright's mother
claimed that he did no wrong and was being wrongfully arrested over air freshners hanging down from his rear-view mirror (technically against the law in Minnesota). But that ignores the fact the he had an outstanding warrant out for his arrest and that he attempted to flee his arrest. Her comments ignore the likely fact that if Daunte Wright had not attempted to escape his arrest, he would still be alive.
The idea that there is a
"war" going on between police and citizens continues. The people
looting and rioting as a result of the shooting are accomplishing nothing. This all seems to be going according to someone's plan. Seems like we're being set up for another summer of riots and protests across the US.
UPDATE: Police say fatal shooting of Daunte Wright appears to be accidental.
From Yahoo!:
Police in Brooklyn Center, Minn., say the female officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, during a traffic stop Sunday accidentally drew a handgun instead of a Taser when she killed him.
"There is nothing I can say to lessen the pain of Daunte Wright's family," Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said during a press conference Monday afternoon.
At the briefing, Gannon played bodycam footage of the incident, which shows an officer attempting to handcuff Wright outside his vehicle when Wright suddenly jumps back inside. A female officer can be heard yelling, "Taser! Taser! Taser!," before discharging her weapon as Wright drives away.
The officer can then be heard saying, "Oh, shit, I just shot him," in apparent disbelief.
But Daunte Wright's father says he 'can't accept' police claim that officer meant to use taser. From
The Hill:
The father of Daunte Wright, the 20-year-old Black man who was fatally shot on Sunday by a police officer at a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minn., says he "can't accept" authorities claiming that the officer meant to use a Taser instead of firing her gun.
"I cannot accept that," Aubrey Wright told ABC's Robin Roberts on "Good Morning America." "I lost my son. He's never coming back. I can't accept that a mistake — that doesn't even sound right. This officer has been on the force for 26-plus years. I can't accept that."
Daunte Wright's mother, Katie Wright, told "Good Morning America" that she would like to see "justice served" and the officer "held accountable for everything that she's taken from us."
Meanwhile, as well as the National Guard being brought in,
Minnesota has had curfew imposed in response to the riots.
More
from RT:
CNN's live coverage of nighttime clashes between BLM protesters and police in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota took an unusual turn when an angry man confronted the reporter about the media supposedly making things worse.
The on-air exchange between CNN's Sara Sidner and the man, who refused to identify himself, happened on Monday evening. Sidner was reporting from the scene of intense clashes involving people protesting the death of 20-year-old black man Daunte Wright, who was killed by a police officer on Sunday.
The protest has spread to other cities as a vigil for Daunte Wright in Portland (of course) turned into riot with clashes outside police station.
From RT:
A riot was declared in Portland, Oregon on Monday night after protesters threw rocks and other objects at police officers. They demanded justice for Daunte Wright, a black man who was fatally shot by police over the weekend.
After attending a vigil for Daunte Wright, who died in a botched arrest attempt in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, protesters staged a march, chanting, "Every city, every town - burn the precincts to the ground!"
The crowd headed towards the Penumbra Kelly building, where the city's police precinct and a local sheriff's office are located. According to local TV channel KWG, there were around 250 protesters.
Police said people were throwing bottles, rocks, and fireworks at the officers, as well as breaking windows and starting fires as they attempted to break into the building.
Cue the Twitter war!
From RT:
Amid a second night of rioting and clashes between police and protesters in Minnesota, Twitter found its own battleground - reacting in a morally superior and politically convenient way to the ransacking of a Dollar Tree store.
...
One of the targets was a local branch of Dollar Tree, a discount retailer. The chain sells food and household items as cheaply as possible, serving as a major supplier for poorest communities. So it's no wonder that the outlet's demise was soon picked up by conservative commentators as the latest example of how BLM protesters don't really care about black communities and only want looting and chaos.
Their ideological opponents appeared en masse to explain why a bit of property damage was OK when done for the right cause. Dollar Tree is a rich corporation exploiting black people, they suggested, so you can't possibly value some store more than the life of Daunte Wright, and, most of all, what about the Capitol Hill riot? Or so the arguments went.
Also on Twitter, some users are asking why the name of the police officer who shot Daunte Wright is released, but not Capitol riot killer responsible for the death of Ashli Babbit.
From RT:
Amidst the protests following the shooting of Daunte Wright at the hands of police, conservatives got Ashli Babbitt's name trending again, asking why the officer who shot her during the Capitol Riot was never publicly identified.
The officer who shot and killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright on Sunday has been revealed as Kim Potter, whom Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said accidentally discharged her weapon during a traffic stop, resulting in Wright's death.
On Tuesday, as Potter's name came to be known, some conservatives pushed another name to trend on social media: Ashli Babbitt, who was infamously killed on camera during the US Capitol riot by an officer whose name was never released. Critics quickly theorized as to why one name was released so quickly while another has been kept hidden since January 6.
"Ashli Babbitt was white and conservative and therefore her life had no value, in the eyes of BLM and the media," Daily Wire's Matt Walsh wrote in response to a question about Potter's name being released.
"Why do they only protect some officers?" Gateway Pundit's Cassandra Fairbanks originally asked, kicking off the comparisons.
R.C.