Fatal shooting of Black man during traffic stop sparks protests near Minneapolis
April 12, 2021 at 4:22 am PDT By Kelli Dugan and Natalie Dreier, Cox Media Group National Content Desk BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — A police officer shot and killed a Black man during a traffic stop Sunday in a Minneapolis suburb, sparking a short-lived clash between police and social justice activists several hours later.
According to a news release issued by the Brooklyn Center Police Department, officers executing a traffic stop just before 2 p.m. learned that the driver had an outstanding warrant. As officers attempted to take the suspect into custody, the driver re-entered his vehicle, and one of the officers fired their weapon, striking the driver.
Brooklyn Center is located on the northwest border of Minneapolis. Update 7:08 a.m. EDT April 12: The Minnesota National Guard was deployed Sunday night after crowds of people gathered to protest the death of Daunte Wright, CNN reported. Hundreds of people marched to the Brooklyn Center police department. Earlier in the evening, KARE recorded video of about a hundred people gathering at the crash site and trying to damage police vehicles, CNN reported. Minnesota Department of Public Safety commissioner John Harrington told CNN that some people threw rocks and other items at the police department building. A second group of protesters went to a nearby mall where 20 businesses were broken into, Harrington said, according to CNN. The city’s mayor had ordered a curfew through 6 a.m. Monday after he declared a local emergency because of “growing civil unrest.” Schools were closed for in-person learning and transitioned to online “out of an abundance of caution following the officer-involved shooting,” Brooklyn Center Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Carly Baker said on the district’s website. Original report: According to police, who have not identified the shooting victim, the vehicle traveled “several blocks” after the driver was shot before crashing. Life-saving measures performed at the scene were unsuccessful, and the man died, the news release stated. Family members identified the man killed as 20-year-old Daunte Wright, who is Black. Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, told KARE that her son called her as he was being pulled over to request insurance information for the vehicle, which she had recently given him. She said when she called back “a minute later” that his girlfriend, the passenger, answered and told her that Daunte Wright had been shot. By Sunday night, several hundred people had gathered near the scene of the shooting, with protesters pushing past police tape to confront riot gear-clad officers, the Star Tribune reported. At around 7:15 p.m., police fired non-lethal rounds to disperse the crowd after protesters broke the windshields of two patrol cars. By 8:30 p.m., the police presence had waned, and the remaining crowd “calmly gathered to light candles, burn sage and write messages like ‘Justice for Daunte Wright’ in chalk on the street near the scene,” the newspaper reported. The female passenger was transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries related to the car crash, the news release stated. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating the shooting, and police officials told KARE that it is believed both dash cameras and officer-issued body cameras were activated during the shooting. Sunday’s shooting comes during the ongoing trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the May 2020 killing of George Floyd. END OF PUBLIC ARTICLE HERE NOW IS MY BUILD! THE GOVERNMENT IS KILLING OUR PEOPLE AND WE MUST MAKE THE WORLD KNOW THAT OUR PROTESTS, RIOTING AND FIGHTING BACK ALONE HAS NEVER BEEN ENOUGH OF A DETERRENT WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE FACES YOU SEE THE SAME FACES THAT STORMED THE CAPITAL. THESE GOV'T FORCES GLEEFULLY KILL OUR PEOPLE BECAUSE AMERICA LICENSES WHITE PEOPLE TO KILL BLACK PEOPLE. THAT WHY THEY DON'T HAVE TO TRAINED NOT TO KILL OTHER WHITES THEY'RE ONLY LICENSED TO KILL BLACK PEOPLE. BEYOND THAT LIENSE THEY ARE GIVEN GREEN LIGHTS TO DO SO REGARDLESS TO SITUATION OFR CIRCUMSTANCE. THIS MEANS THEY CAN KILL US FOR A CD, A CIGARETTE, $20.00, OR A TRAFFIC STOP. FEAR IS THE EXCUSE THEY USE AS A PASS AND WE'VE NEVER ASKED THIS QUESTION ABOUT THAT LIE. THE ONLY JOB WHITES HAVE THAT GIVES THEM GUNS BULLETS AND BULLETPROOF VESTS IS THE JOB WITH THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF PUNKS. THESE INDIVIDUALS ARE THE MOST AFRAID OF BLACK PEOPLE THEN OTHER WHITES. WHITES OWN AND CONTROL 90% OF BUSINESSES BLACKS ARE EMPLOYED AT. THEY DONT HAVE GUNS AND BULLETS OR BULLET PROOF VESTS BUT THEY ARE NOT AFRAID AS WE COME TO WORK EVERYDAY AS THEY HIRE AND FIRE US AT WILL. POLICE ARE NOT AFRAID OF BLACK PEOPLE THATS STRAIGHT BULLSHIT AND THEY SHOW YOU THEY ARE NOT AFRAID. WHAT THEY ARE IS DANGEROUS TO BLACK PEOPLE. THATS WHY THEY HAVE A DANGEROUS JOB BECAUSE THEY ARE DANGEROUS PEOPLE. PEOPLE WHO HAVE KILLED IN WARS, KLANS, HUNTING PARTIES WHO ENJOY THE THRILL OF TOAL AUTHORITY TO BEAT AND KILL WITH NO REPERCUSSIIONS. THEY DONT KILL THE ASIAN PACIFIC, JEWISH, ITALIAN, IRISH OR ANY ETHINIC GROUP WHOSE SKIN IS NOT BLACK. THERE ARE NO GOOD COPS WHEN THESE BAD COPS KILL AND CONTINUE TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER. FOR AS LONG AS THERE HAS BEEN A POLICE THEY HAVE KILLED US! LOOK AT OLD TAPES OF THE 1920'S AND EARLIER THE SAME HORROR STORIES ARE TOLD BY BLACKS THEY PREYED ON. NONE OF THE ETHNIC GROUPS THE GOVERNMENT PROTECTS AS INDIVIDUALS AS A GROUP CALL ON THE POLICE TO STOP KILLING US. HOWEVER WHEN EVER THEY ARE CONSIDERED VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE BLACKS ARE FORCED TO SUPPORT AND SPEAK UP FROM THEM. LOOK AT THE FALSE ASIAN NARRATIVE THEY ARE READY TO GIVE THEM MILLIONS. WE KNOW FROM CALI TO BK HOW THE GOVT. PROTECTS THEM FROM PRISON WHEN THEY BEAT AND KILL US IN THEIR BUSINESSES IN OUR COMMUNITY. THESE COPS DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT THE CHAUVIN CASE AND SO A BLUE SHIRT TOOK ANOTHER BLACK LIFE!