Updated: 10:03 a.m.
Brooklyn Center police shot and killed a 20-year-old man after a traffic stop Sunday, sparking protests and unrest amid already heightened tensions in Minnesota during the ongoing murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
Daunte Wright, who was identified by family members, was stopped by police at around 2 p.m. as he was driving in a residential neighborhood. Brooklyn Center police said in a statement that officers discovered “an outstanding warrant” and tried to take him into custody, when he got back into his car. An officer shot Wright, who managed to drive off but crashed into another vehicle several blocks away. He was declared dead at the scene.
Police are expected to hold an 11 a.m. news briefing. An overnight curfew expired at 6 a.m., and school districts serving Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park said students will be in distance learning Monday.
Daunte Wright's mother, Katie Wright, said that her son told her he had been stopped because there was an air freshener dangling from the rearview mirror.
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In a Twitter video posted by KARE 11 reporter Chris Hrapsky, Katie Wright described hearing her son talk with police over the phone during the stop, and someone telling her son not to run. She also said after being disconnected, she managed to talk with Wright’s girlfriend who was a passenger in the car.
When an officer demanded the phone be shut off, Katie Wright said she called 911 to try to find out the couple’s location. The girlfriend, who has not been named, was taken to a hospital with what police called non-life-threatening injuries.
Brooklyn Center police said in a news release its officers wear body cameras, and that the department believes both body cameras and squad cameras were activated at the time of the shooting.
The shooting happened on the same afternoon that several community groups held a rally in St. Paul calling for justice for people killed in encounters with police. And it happened on the eve of the third week of testimony in Chauvin's trial in the killing of George Floyd while in police custody.
More National Guard, state law enforcement in the Twin Cities
Protesters began gathering at the scene shortly after the shooting, calling for justice for Daunte Wright. People later gathered outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department about 2 miles away, with some throwing projectiles at officers in riot gear in front of the building.
Police ordered the crowd to disperse and move to the other side of Humboldt Avenue, and declared an unlawful assembly before firing tear gas and flash-bang grenades to clear protesters.
Residents of apartment buildings across the street from the police station, including children, watched from windows as police deployed the crowd-dispersal munitions.
The unrest led to some vandalism and looting at the Shingle Creek Crossing shopping center and nearby stores in Brooklyn Center. There also were police scanner reports of sporadic looting and property damage in Minneapolis in the early morning hours Monday, prompting a large law enforcement response.
Speaking at a briefing early Monday in Minneapolis, Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said more National Guard troops and state law enforcement personnel were headed into the Twin Cities and would be visible in the metro area this week, on top of personnel already in place for the ongoing Chauvin trial.
"The Minnesota National Guard had just over 500 personnel in support of the Operation Safety Net as of Monday morning,” said spokesperson Lt. Col. Scott Hawks. The Guard already had plans to increase that number as closing arguments approached in the trial, expected next week.
“Those plans are in process of being altered and expedited as we respond to the effects of the current situation in Brooklyn Center,” Hawks said.
By Monday morning, National Guard troops and law enforcement were seen stationed in front of a quiet Brooklyn Center Police Department and at the Shingle Creek Crossing shopping center.
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