Long before a suburban police officer raised her gun and fired at 20-year-old Daunte Wright, Minneapolis was braced for a turbulent spring.
But the killing of Wright on Sunday — shot by a veteran officer who, the police chief said, had apparently intended to use her Taser — instantly added anger and combustibility in a region already on edge from the highest-stakes trial to date amid a mass movement against racially biased policing.
That trial hurtled toward its conclusion on Monday, with final arguments in the case against former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin expected next week, even as authorities were racing to stave off a second night of unrest after Wright’s death. Officials announced curfews, schools suspended in-person classes, professional sports teams canceled games and businesses boarded up after a first night that included peaceful protests — but also clashes between police and demonstrators, as well as looting of local businesses.
“This couldn’t have happened at a worse time,” said Mike Elliott, mayor of Brooklyn Center, the suburb 10 miles north of downtown Minneapolis where Sunday’s shooting took place. “We are collectively devastated.”
Apprehension over the potential fallout from the Chauvin verdict, which is likely to come this month, had already reached considerable heights. Minneapolis is still grappling with the chaos that erupted following the killing of George Floyd last year, and the city’s center is locked down because of the trial of Chauvin, who is accused of Floyd’s death. Local officials have said they are spending $1 million on security, bringing in waves of law enforcement and erecting fences topped with barbed wire.
But community leaders said Monday that, especially given the fresh wounds of Sunday’s shooting, they doubt any amount of security will be enough to maintain the peace should Chauvin be acquitted — or even convicted on lesser charges.
“We already see from last night what is going to happen,” said Jamar Nelson, outreach specialist for A Mother’s Love, a Minneapolis-based anti-violence group. “Rome will be burning.”
Nelson said that his job is to be “a calming voice in the midst of all this turmoil” but that that task is made immeasurably more difficult by the continued killing of Black citizens by police officers.
“People haven’t healed from last year’s events, or the ones before that,” he said in an interview, naming the litany of Black residents in the Minneapolis area who have been killed or injured by police. “We’ve been going through this for a long, long time. Each event is triggering.”
Wright is at least the 262nd person shot and killed by police so far this year, according to a Washington Post database tracking such shootings. He also appears to be the latest person fatally shot by a police officer who said they intended to pull their Tasers but accidentally drew their firearms instead, following similar cases in Oklahoma, Kansas and Pennsylvania in recent years.
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Minnesota killing adds to the anger, and the stakes, as Chauvin trial nears its end
But the killing of Wright on Sunday — shot by a veteran officer who, the police chief said, had apparently intended to use her Taser — instantly added anger and combustibility in a region already on edge from the highest-stakes trial to date amid a mass movement against racially biased policing.
That trial hurtled toward its conclusion on Monday, with final arguments in the case against former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin expected next week, even as authorities were racing to stave off a second night of unrest after Wright’s death. Officials announced curfews, schools suspended in-person classes, professional sports teams canceled games and businesses boarded up after a first night that included peaceful protests — but also clashes between police and demonstrators, as well as looting of local businesses.
“This couldn’t have happened at a worse time,” said Mike Elliott, mayor of Brooklyn Center, the suburb 10 miles north of downtown Minneapolis where Sunday’s shooting took place. “We are collectively devastated.”
Apprehension over the potential fallout from the Chauvin verdict, which is likely to come this month, had already reached considerable heights. Minneapolis is still grappling with the chaos that erupted following the killing of George Floyd last year, and the city’s center is locked down because of the trial of Chauvin, who is accused of Floyd’s death. Local officials have said they are spending $1 million on security, bringing in waves of law enforcement and erecting fences topped with barbed wire.
But community leaders said Monday that, especially given the fresh wounds of Sunday’s shooting, they doubt any amount of security will be enough to maintain the peace should Chauvin be acquitted — or even convicted on lesser charges.
“We already see from last night what is going to happen,” said Jamar Nelson, outreach specialist for A Mother’s Love, a Minneapolis-based anti-violence group. “Rome will be burning.”
Nelson said that his job is to be “a calming voice in the midst of all this turmoil” but that that task is made immeasurably more difficult by the continued killing of Black citizens by police officers.
“People haven’t healed from last year’s events, or the ones before that,” he said in an interview, naming the litany of Black residents in the Minneapolis area who have been killed or injured by police. “We’ve been going through this for a long, long time. Each event is triggering.”
Wright is at least the 262nd person shot and killed by police so far this year, according to a Washington Post database tracking such shootings. He also appears to be the latest person fatally shot by a police officer who said they intended to pull their Tasers but accidentally drew their firearms instead, following similar cases in Oklahoma, Kansas and Pennsylvania in recent years.
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