More violent riots have broken out in a city in Minnesota just outside Minneapolis, following a police-involved shooting of a driver during a traffic stop, according to ABC News.
Although the full details of the incident have not yet been revealed, police pulled a car over in the early afternoon on Sunday after a traffic violation in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Shortly after pulling the car over, it was determined that the driver had an outstanding warrant for his arrest.
According to Police Chief Tim Gannon’s official statement, “at one point, as officers were attempting to take the driver into custody, the driver re-entered the vehicle. One officer discharged their firearm, striking the driver.” The car then sped off for several blocks before crashing into another car. Officers and emergency personnel at the scene then “attempted life-saving measures…but the person died at the scene.”
The only other injury was a woman in the driver’s car, who sustained minor injuries in the ensuing crash. None of the other car’s occupants were injured. Gannon confirmed that the officers involved were wearing body-cameras, and that the footage is currently being reviewed by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension at the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.
The victim has been named as 20-year-old Daunte Wright. His death was confirmed by his mother, Katie Wright, who described the experience of listening to the incident over her son’s phone, and talking to his girlfriend, the car’s passenger, immediately after he was shot.
Following the incident, a group of roughly 100 to 200 protesters gathered in the evening on Sunday and marched to the Brooklyn Center Police Department. Police Commissioner John Harrington confirmed in a statement that once the crowd arrived, there were “rocks and other objects thrown at the police department,” and that “there were reports of shots fired in the area of the police department.”
Harrington also confirmed that another riot had broken out at the Shingle Creek mall, saying that “we have reports of approximately 20 businesses that were broken into during that period.”
Police eventually declared the riot at the police station to be unlawful, and after issuing a ten-minute warning, began firing rubber bullets and flash bangs into the crowd. Local authorities have formally requested the mobilization of the National Guard to Brooklyn Center in anticipation of further riots.