Police fatally shoot man, 20, in suburban Minneapolis, sparking protests
By Jared Goyette and
Andrea Salcedo
April 11, 2021 at 3:52 a.m. EDT
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — Police fatally shot a man after a traffic stop on Sunday in suburban Minneapolis, sparking clashes between hundreds of protesters and officers in an area where tensions are already high during the ongoing trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin.
The victim’s family identified him as 20-year-old Daunte Wright. Hours after the shooting, hundreds of protesters surrounded the police headquarters and clashed with officers in riot gear, who fired flash bangs and tear gas. The Minnesota National Guard, which is deployed to the Twin Cities for the Chauvin trial, later arrived to assist police as numerous businesses in the area were broken into.
Police said the shooting happened just before 2 p.m., when an officer stopped a car on a traffic violation and found the driver had an outstanding warrant. As police tried to arrest him, he got back into the car and an officer fired at him, Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said in a news release.
The man drove for several blocks before striking another vehicle. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A female passenger suffered injuries not believed to be life-threatening and was transported to a hospital, police said.
Police have not identified the officer who fired or the victim. At a news conference early on Monday, authorities also declined to say whether the victim was armed, pending a Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigation.
Aubrey Wright identified the victim as his son, Daunte, who is Black. He said police pulled him over because an air freshener was allegedly blocking his rearview mirror — a claim Aubrey Wright questioned because the car had tinted windows.
Brooklyn Center is about 10 miles northwest of downtown Minneapolis, where a murder trial is underway for Chauvin, the former officer accused of killing George Floyd after kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes before he died last year.
“This is not a neighborhood where stuff happens like this,” said Wright, who added that the family lives about three miles from where the shooting took place.
more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/04/11/daunte-wright-brooklyn-center-minnesota/
| 