Daunte Wright shooting: ‘Holy sh*t, I Just Shot Him’ – what we know about America’s latest police killing
Minneapolis police shooting
“Holy shit, I just shot him!” were the words of the Minnesota police officer after she discharged her gun, killing Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, according to body camera footage.
Police are saying the killing was an accident and that the officer who shot Wright was likely meant to use her taser.
In the footage from the Sunday afternoon traffic stop, played at a press conference held Monday by law enforcement, Wright can be seen getting pulled out of his car by police officers, turned around and pushed against the vehicle. He tries to get back into the driver’s seat. Then the officer took out her gun and fired a shot into the car.
The officer, whose name has not been revealed, yelled “Taser, Taser, Taser” before firing her pistol. She then said, “Holy shit, I just shot him,” leading police chief Tim Gannon to believe it was “an accidental discharge.”
As I watch the video and listen to the officer’s commands, it is my belief that the officer had the intention to deploy their Taser, but instead shot Mr. Wright with a single bullet,” Gannon said.
The officer who shot Wright has only been identified as female. She has been put on administrative leave, according to Gannon.
Police said Sunday that Wright was pulled over because of a “traffic violation”, then on Monday he was initially stopped because of an expired registration. After stopping him, police said officers determined he had an outstanding warrant.
After he was shot, Wright managed to drive for several blocks before hitting another vehicle, according to a statement from Brooklyn Center Police. There was another passenger in the car with him, but she did not sustain life-threatening injuries from the crash and was taken to a hospital.
The Minneapolis police shooting of Wright has set off fresh protests in the Minneapolis area. The major has issued a curfew through 6 am Monday morning. Protesters have been reportedly fired with tear gas and rubber bullets, and the Minnesota National Guard was deployed.
#Curfew in #Minneapolis after police killing of Black man #GeorgeFloyd #DaunteWright #JusticeForDaunteWright https://t.co/o1f5ZMAZeF pic.twitter.com/AsKuigx7Uv
— WTX News UK (@WtxNews) April 13, 2021
this is so heartbreaking 💔 #DaunteWright #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/8xpq17UbPD
— MOVED📌 (@LOVE4HYUN1E) April 12, 2021
Police in riot gear have formed a line around the entire Brooklyn Center PD after shooting of #DaunteWright. pic.twitter.com/tnPSDlhsOR
— Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs (@NickAtNews) April 12, 2021
On Sunday evening, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz tweeted he was praying for Wright’s family “as our state mourns another life of a Black man taken by law enforcement.”
In another press conference on Monday afternoon, he declared a state of emergency in the Twin Cities area.
As darkness fell on Monday, riot police ordered protesters to disperse but the crowd remained, CBS reported. Police then began deploying gas canisters and stun grenades, reporters at the scene said.
Members of the Minnesota National Guard, already deployed for the trial on murder charges of Derek Chauvin, have also been sent to Brooklyn Center.
National ice hockey, basketball and baseball games that were due to take place on Monday night were postponed.
The police shooting on Sunday came just before the eleventh day of the Derek Chauvin trial – a former Minneapolis police officer who is being tried for the killing of George Floyd.
Floyd’s death sparked national and international outrage, and a reckoning about race and policing in the US.
Chauvin was caught on video last year kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes during the arrest, as Floyd repeatedly told him he was struggling to breathe. He has been charged with second-degree and third-degree murder, as well as second-degree manslaughter in Floy’s death. If convicted, he faces up to 65 years in prison.
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