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WATCH: Minneapolis Police Chief Blasts Anti-Police Sentiment After 3-Year-Old Shot

   DailyWire.com
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - MAY 29: A man raises his fist in front of a burning building during protests sparked by the death of George Floyd while in police custody on May 29, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Earlier today, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was taken into custody for Floyd's death. Chauvin has been accused of kneeling on Floyd's neck as he pleaded with him about not being able to breathe. Floyd was pronounced dead a short while later. Chauvin and 3 other officers, who were involved in the arrest, were fired from the police department after a video of the arrest was circulated. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Scott Olson/Getty Images

The Minneapolis police chief asserted over the weekend that the police are not the biggest threat to the safety of the city after a three-year-old was reportedly shot Friday.

“The biggest threat to public safety in our city, and particularly to our African-American community, is not the police,” Chief Medaria Arradondo said. “We have an epidemic right now of unequivocal gun violence particularly in our African-American communities. And that must stop.”

WATCH:

As Alpha News MN reported:

The chief’s remarks came during a press conference on Saturday afternoon regarding the shooting, which took place on Friday night on the 3300 block of Emerson Avenue North in Minneapolis.

Police were called to the address about 9:47 p.m. on a report of a child being shot. Initial police dispatches indicated the child was 10, but information was later updated stating the child was three years old.

The chief said when officers arrived at the location of the shooting, they observed that the child had suffered a critical gunshot wound. Officers made the decision to transport the child to the hospital in a squad car instead of waiting for the ambulance, which was reported to be three or four minutes away.

Chief Arradondo praised the officers for their quick action and said they “made the right choice.” He said had the officers not made the decision to transport, he could very well be reporting the death of another child in Minneapolis.

A group of police chiefs from the Minneapolis suburbs warned Monday that gun violence has recently surged to unprecedented levels. “I’ve never seen the gun violence like it is,” Brooklyn Park Police Chief Craig Enevoldsen told local Fox 9.

“Enevoldsen and police chiefs from Crystal, Maple Grove, Plymouth, and New Hope, spoke to FOX 9 about the gun violence they are seeing in their communities,” Fox 9 reported.

“Violent crime in Hennepin County increased 24 percent in 2020 compared to 2019 and was up 36 percent in the last three months of 2020,” the outlet continued. “When you exclude Minneapolis from the calculations, violent crime in the rest of Hennepin County increased by 19 percent over the previous year.”

Minneapolis has been hemorrhaging police since the unrest that has roiled the city since the death of George Floyd in May 2020. As The Daily Wire reported:

Police officers are leaving the Minneapolis Police Department in droves because they feel “helpless” amid the city’s skyrocketing crime, according to one who left the force last year.

“This goes back before George Floyd,” former Minneapolis police officer Steve Dykstra told Fox News on Tuesday. “Since around 2015, I know the city of Minneapolis has been backpedaling, taking tools away from police to enforce the law and keep the streets safe.”

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