Minneapolis police officers who made a traffic stop Wednesday night fatally shot a man suspected of a crime, authorities reported.
Officers exchanged shots with the unidentified man at a Holiday gas station around 6:15 p.m.
Witnesses said the man opened fire first, Medaria Arradondo, head of the Minneapolis police department, said at a news conference, the Star Tribune reported.
A woman inside the car was unharmed and no officers were injured in the deadly shooting that took place less than a mile from where George Floyd died after a Minneapolis police officer left. kneel for more than eight minutes.
Wednesday night’s incident was the department’s first police murder in the city since Floyd, whose May 25 death sparked months of nationwide protests against police brutality and racial inequality.
Dozens of protesters took to the scene of Wednesday’s shootings calling for officers.
Arradondo urged protesters to remain peaceful.
“We cannot allow destructive criminal behavior, our city has gone too far,” the chief told the news conference, according to the Star Tribune.
According to Arradondo, the images from the camera of the police force will be released quickly, “I want the community to be able to see what happened.”
It is unclear how many officers were involved in the traffic stop.
The state criminal detention office is handling an investigation.
With publishing cables