Minnesota broke out in riots last night, after police shot and killed an unarmed Black man. According to an eyewitness on the scene, MTO News learned that police opened fire on the young man after they saw an air freshener in his car hanging from the rearview mirror.
The alleged murder caused hundreds of people to tae to the streets in protest on Sunday night.
The shooting happened Sunday afternoon in Brooklyn Center, a Minneapolis suburb of about 30,000 people. Brooklyn Center is about 10 miles from where former police officer Derek Chauvin is on trial for the killing of another Black man, George Floyd.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz identified the man killed in Sunday’s incident as Daunte Wright.
“Gwen and I are praying for Daunte Wright’s family as our state mourns another life of a Black man taken by law enforcement,” Walz said via a tweet.
BLACK ROB IS HOMESS AFTER HAVING 4 STROKES
Police are giving a bizarre and uncorroborated account of what happened.
Around 2 p.m., police stopped a man driving in a car – they did not offer any reasoning for the stop. The officers claim that the man had outstanding warrants – most likely driving violations – and a deadly encounter ensued.
According to police, they shot the man – and he drove several blocks before striking another vehicle. It’s not clear what prompted the officer to open fire..
Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, spoke out publicly and described what happened – with greater detail. Her 20-year-old son called her as he was getting pulled over.
“He said they pulled him over because he had air fresheners hanging from the rearview mirror,” the mother said, crying. “A minute later, I called and his girlfriend answered, which was the passenger in the car, and said that he’d been shot.”
“He didn’t deserve to be shot and killed like this,” Wright said.
Body camera footage of the incident exists, but police are refusing to release it at this time.
After the shooting, people took the the streets and started rioting. Here’s video: