Police in the Brooklyn Center neighborhood of Minneapolis fatally shot a 20-year-old black man during a traffic stop on Sunday afternoon, sparking a series of violent protests amid tensions over the murder of Derek Chauvin.
The victim’s mother spent much of Sunday afternoon at the site of the deadly shooting and asked officers to remove the body of her son, Daunte Wright, from the pavement.
“He got out of the car and his girlfriend said they shot him,” Katie Wright said, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “He got back in the car, got away and crashed and is now dead on the ground from 1:47 … Nobody will tell us anything. Nobody will talk to us … I said please take my son out of the ground ”.
The victim’s mother said her son called her during the traffic stop saying she was tied to the presence of air fresheners hanging in the car, which is a crime in Minnesota. “He called me around 1:30. He said police had dragged him. And I told him why you crawled. And he said he was dragged because he had air fresheners hanging from the rearview mirror. I said, “Okay, get rid of them,” Wright said, adding that he heard a fight break out and someone shouting, “Daunte, don’t run.” When he called, his son was dead.
Police say during a name check, they discovered Wright had a pending arrest warrant. When they tried to stop him, he returned to his car, where he was shot dead. Police have not yet explained the reason for the opening of the fire or whether it was believed Wright was armed.
Protests erupted even as Wright’s family called for calm. As night fell, police fired tear gas wheels, rubber bullets and gunshots at about 500 protesters who had gathered near the Brooklyn Center police headquarters and had dismantled the signage. They tried to enforce a curfew at 6 a.m. which largely failed, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Many of the protesters retreated to nearby residential areas.
Around midnight, National Guard troops attempted to secure the area while looters stormed a nearby Walmart store. Local media reports that many nearby businesses, including a Foot Locker and a New York clothing store, were damaged by the violence that followed.
Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington, along with state and Hennepin County patrol officers, said early Monday that the Guard would remain “robust” for the next “two or three days.”
Wright’s mother called for calm and told the crowd, “All violence, if it continues, will only be about violence. We need it to be about why my son was shot for no reason. We have to ‘make sure it’s him and not crush police cars, because that won’t come back to my son.’
In the early hours of the morning, protests had spread south of Minneapolis and were gaining strength in numbers before the first light. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he is “closely watching” the events and Brooklyn center mayor Mike Elliot called on police to avoid using force against peaceful protesters.
“It was so silly. It just makes everyone happy, “Wright’s sister told citizen journalist Unicorn Riot.” They took my brother out. … I’m so hurt, they really took him. … I still can’t believe it. “I still have the feeling of going home and seeing him. It really hurts.”