Protests rock Minnesota over shooting of 20-year old black man

The Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz has imposed a curfew from 7 p.m to 6 a.m on Tuesday for three counties that include Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis, and the capital of St. Paul as protests intensified after a Brooklyn Center police officer fatally shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, during a traffic stop on Sunday.

At a news conference early Tuesday, Minnesota State Patrol Col. Matt Langer said that 40 people were arrested at the Brooklyn Center protest, ranging from curfew violation to rioting. Some of the officers suffered minor injuries from thrown objects, he added.

“Prayers are not enough. Daunte Wright should still be with us. While an investigation is underway, our nation needs justice and healing, and Daunte’s family needs to know why their child is dead—they deserve answers.” Vice President Kamala Harris said on Twitter amidst protests across the country.

Wright was shot once and died after the traffic stop, police Chief Tim Gannon said. Body cam footage showed two other officers approaching Wright’s car and the officer who fired the shot standing behind them.

As the officer on the driver side of the vehicle began to handcuff Wright, he broke free, a struggle ensued, and Wright jumped back into the driver’s seat. An officer threatened to tase him, shouting, “Taser!” at least three times before shooting Wright, then saying, “Oh (expletive), I just shot him.”

The car drove away, traveling several blocks before hitting another vehicle.

Wright’s death, which set off protests and unrest Sunday night, was ruled a homicide by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner.

“This is murder. This is white supremacy. Who’s going to stand up for our ancestors who built this land but are still kept down?” said Jonathan Mason, a community activist.

In a statement, NAACP National President Derrick Johnson said Wright “should be alive today.”

“Whether it be carelessness and negligence, or a blatant modern-day lynching, the result is the same. Another Black man has died at the hands of police,” Johnson said.

Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott called the shooting “deeply tragic” and said the officer should be fired. He later announced that the city council had voted to give his office “command authority” over the police department.

Brooklyn Center is a modest suburb just north of Minneapolis that has seen its demographics shift dramatically in recent years. In 2000, more than 70% of the city was white. Today, a majority of residents are Black, Asian or Latino.

Organizers from the Movement for Black Lives, a national coalition of more than 150 Black-led political and advocacy groups, pointed to Wright’s killing as yet another reason why cities must take up proposals for defunding an “irreparably broken, racist system.”