Minneapolis police have released footage of a body chamber from a traffic hall that ended with a man shot dead, the city’s first death since George Floyd’s death in May.
The swift move was aimed at curbing public anger over the murder, which sparked seven months after the widespread unrest that followed Floyd’s death amid police fears of renewed protests.
The shooting took place on the south side of the city on Wednesday. Police said the man – who was identified by his father as Dolal Idd – was a suspect in a crime and that witnesses said he shot first.
The city released in two versions a short clip of the body’s camera from one officer, one of which slowed down to make it easier to follow. The video showed the man trying to drive away from police before his vehicle was struck and how he was looking through the driver’s side window at officers. It was difficult to set out more details.
The driver’s window breaks, an officer hears swearing and at least a dozen shots are fired.
Medaria Arradondo, the police chief, said a gun was found at the scene. A woman in the car was unharmed; no officers were injured. At a news conference, Arradondo was asked if officers used reasonable force, and he said they were responding to a deadly threat.
“When officers experience shooting, they are trained to respond,” Arradondo said. Later, when asked if it was clear to him that the man in the car had shot first, he said: ‘When I watched the video that everyone was watching, and probably the delayed version in real time, the individual in the vehicle first shoots its weapon at the officers. ”
The State Bureau of Criminal Detention is handling an investigation into the incident.
Bayle Gelle, of Eden Prairie, told the Star Tribune on Thursday that the dead man is his son, 22-year-old Dolal Idd. Gelle told the newspaper that authorities did not give him more information about what happened. He said several officers carried out a warrant at his home on Wednesday night.
“The police are brutality,” he told the Star Tribune. “I want justice.”
Idd was Somali-American.
The shooting took place less than a mile from the street corner where Floyd, a black man, died in May after a Minneapolis officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for minutes, even while Floyd pleaded that he could not do not breathe. Floyd’s death led to days of sometimes violent protests that spread across the United States and resonated worldwide.
In Minneapolis, Floyd’s death also led to a long-criticized pressure for radical change in the police department.
Mayor Jacob Frey and Arradondo have proposed several policy changes since Floyd’s death, including the use of violent policies and the requirement for officers to report on their attempts to degenerate situations. And earlier this month, the city council approved $ 8 million of the police budget being shifted to violence prevention and other programs.
Frey said in a statement late Wednesday that he was working with Arradondo for information on the shooting, and promised to get it out as soon as possible in conjunction with the state investigation.
“Events of the past year have marked some of the darkest days in our city,” Frey said. ‘We know that life has been cut short and that trust between communities of color and law enforcement is fragile. … We must all commit to obtaining the facts, pursuing justice, and maintaining peace. ‘
All four officers involved in Floyd’s death were fired and quickly charged. They are scheduled for trial in March.