BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (AP) – A black man has died after being shot by police in a suburb of Minneapolis and his car crashed a few blocks apart. It caused violent protests that lasted into the early hours of Monday morning when officers clashed in riotous clashes. with protesters and the man’s mother asked for calm.
The man was identified by the family as 20-year-old Daunte Wright, and he died in a metropolitan area on Sunday, halfway through the trial of the first of four police officers charged in the death of George Floyd.. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz tweeted that he was praying for Wright’s family “while our state gives a lament over another life of a black man taken by law enforcement.”
Daunte’s mother, Katie Wright, tried to control unrest before the Brooklyn Center confrontation between protesters and law enforcement.
‘All the violence, if it continues, is just about the violence. We have to talk about why my son was shot for no reason, ‘she told a crowd near the shooting scene. “We have to make sure it’s about him and not crushing police cars, because it’s not going to bring my son back.”
Police Wright not immediately identified, but protesters who had gathered near the scene, waving flags and signs with the inscription “Black Lives Matter.” Others walk calmly with their hands up. In one street, written in multicolored chalk: “Justice for Daunte Wright.”
Brooklyn Center police said in a statement that officers stopped a motorist shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday. After determining that the driver had an outstanding warrant, police tried to arrest the driver. The driver re-entered the vehicle and an officer shot at the vehicle and hit the driver. The vehicle traveled several blocks before hitting another vehicle.
The report of the shooting of the Wright family’s differed, and Katie Wright said he was shot before getting back into the car.
Police said the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office will release the person’s name after a preliminary autopsy and family notice. A female passenger sustained non-life-threatening injuries during the crash. Brooklyn Center is a city of approximately 30,000 people on the northwestern border of Minneapolis.
Katie Wright said the passenger was her son’s girlfriend. Wright said her son called her when he was pulled over.
“All he did was have air fresheners in the car and they told him to get out of the car,” Wright said. During the call she said she was bickering and then someone said “Daunte, do not run” before the call ended. When she called back, her son’s girlfriend replied that he had been shot.
Protesters gathered shortly after the shooting and crash, and some jumped on top of police cars and confronted officers. Marchers also descended to the Brooklyn Center building, where stones and other objects were thrown at officers, John Harrington, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, told a news conference. The protesters spread widely around 1:15 a.m. Monday, he said.
About 20 businesses at the city’s Shingle Creek shopping center were broken into, Harrington said. Law enforcement agencies coordinated to tame the unrest, he said, and the National Guard was activated.
Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott announced a curfew in the city that expired Monday at 6 p.m. In a tweet he said: ‘We want to make sure everyone is safe. Please be safe and please go home. ”
Police said Brooklyn Center officials are carrying cameras that are being carried, and they also believe dash cameras were activated during the incident. The department said it had asked the Bureau of Criminal Detention to investigate.
The trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer charged with Floyd’s death, would continue Monday. Floyd, a Black man, died on May 25 after Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck. Prosecutors say Floyd was pinned for 9 minutes, 29 seconds.
Harrington said more members of the National Guard and state law enforcement would be deployed around the Twin Cities and in the Brooklyn Center, in addition to staff already available for Chauvin’s trial.
Meanwhile, all Brooklyn Center students will be instructed online Monday because school buildings will be closed, Carly Baker, principal of Brooklyn Center Community Schools, said in a statement.
“We are determined to take action now. “I have not fully processed the tragedy that took place in our community and give priority to the safety and well-being of our students, families, staff and community members,” Baker said. “We know our community has experienced trauma and we need time and space to process.”