Watch: Black man is fatally shot by police in Minnesota’s Brooklyn Center, situation tense
The victim has been identified as 20-year-old Daunte Wright.
Current scene in Brooklyn Center yards away from where family members say a 20yrold Black man was killed by an officer during a traffic stop this afternoon. @MPRnews pic.twitter.com/erF3eONgUr
— Nina Moini (@ninamoini) April 12, 2021
Protestors in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota clashed with the police on Sunday night, the New York Times reported, after a police officer had fatally shot a Black driver in the area.
The city is close to Minneapolis, where the George Floyd murder trial is currently underway. A former police officer has been charged with killing Floyd in 2020.
The protestors in Brooklyn Center raised slogans like “Black lives they matter here” and “Hands up, don’t shoot” during the demonstrations. The victim has been identified as the 20-year-old Daunte Wright, the report added.
Dozens of Brooklyn Center residents who live in the apartments across from the police precinct are peering out their windows filming the tense encounter will police. Flash bangs keep exploding above and around their building. People yelling: “Children live there!!” pic.twitter.com/9PMh87qeAd
— Liz Sawyer (@ByLizSawyer) April 12, 2021
According to Wright’s mother, she was on the phone with him when he was asked to stop by the police. “He said they pulled him over because he had air fresheners hanging from his rearview mirror,” she was quoted as saying. The police had questions about the vehicle insurance too.
The mother reportedly heard her son put the phone down or drop it when he was asked to step out of the car by the police. She then heard an officer say, “Daunte, don’t run.”
Wright’s girlfriend, who was in the car with him, informed his mother shortly after their conversation that he had been shot.
According to the police, Wright was asked to pull over for a traffic violation. The police officers tried to arrest him but he went back inside his car, the police’s version of the incident said. “One officer discharged their firearm, striking the driver. The vehicle then travelled several blocks before striking another vehicle,” the statement read.
Tense scene at the intersection of 63rd and Lee Ave N in Brooklyn Center. A crowd is shouting at the press and police saying that an officer didn’t have to kill a man. BCA is here investigating. pic.twitter.com/laVrMLsF8v
— Kim Hyatt (@kimvhyatt) April 11, 2021