Minneapolis, Minnesota, Mayor Jacob Frey has declared a “state of emergency” in the city Monday night and, together with St. Paul mayor Melvin Carter, has announced a curfew, starting at 7pm, as the city braces for further riots following a police shooting in Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis.
The shooting, which took place during a weekend traffic stop and left Daunte Wright dead, has reignited racial tensions and, as the Daily Wire noted Sunday night, gave rise to a wave of violence. “Hundreds” of protesters “smashed police cars, vandalized a police station, and looted businesses” in response to the shooting, leaving at least two dozen businesses damaged and injuring at least one police officer.
On Monday, Brooklyn Center police released bodycam footage of the incident and claimed the officer responsible for shooting Daunte Wright thought she had reached for her taser instead of her service weapon.
“It is my belief that the officer had the intention to deploy their Taser, but instead shot Mr. Wright with a single bullet,” Chief Tim Gannon of the Brooklyn Center Police Department said in a Monday press conference. “This appears to me, from what I viewed, and the officer’s reaction and distress immediately after, that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in a tragic death of Mr. Wright.”
“It goes without saying that it’s devastated and heartbreaking that we’re here once again to address the death of a young Black man with an interaction with police,” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said in his own press conference Monday, alongside Minneapolis and St. Paul officials who urged would-be looters and rioters to remain indoors. “As the world is watching during the trial of Derek Chauvin for the death of George Floyd emotions and trauma are high in our state.”
Walz also pledged to follow President Joe Biden’s advice and begin a full investigation into the incident to determine whether the shooting was an accident.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who was also mayor during the riots and destruction that happened following George Floyd’s death while in Minneapolis police custody last may, also urged people to engage in peaceful protests rather than violence.
“For our Black communities in particular, I know the effects of the last 12 months have been just a torrential flood gate of all of the pain that has been felt” over the hundreds over years,” Frey said. “This anguish that we’re all suffering cannot translate into violence, destroying livelihoods destroying locally owned businesses that our communities have poured their hearts and soul into for decades. And the unraveling of the sacrifices that people have made for o long, that cannot, that will not be tolerated.”
“We must see peace tonight,” Frey concluded.
Walz then echoed Frey’s no tolerance approach to rioting and looting.
“For those who choose to go out and, as Mayor Carter said, to exploit these tragedies for destruction or personal gain, you can rest assured that the largest police presence in Minnesota history and coordination will be prepared. You will be arrested. You will be charged. And there will be consequence for those actions,” Walz noted. “It’s not debatable, you’re not making the case. You’re hurting the case. You’re undermining the grief and you hear it from families time and time again. Don’t you dare step into our space where we’re trying to enact change through our system.”
The National Guard was called out Sunday night to help keep the peace and is likely to assist Minneapolis and Brooklyn Center law enforcement Monday night.