BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. -- The police officer who fatally shot a Black man during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb apparently intended to fire a Taser, not a handgun, as the man struggled with police, the city's police chief said Monday.
Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon described the shooting death Sunday of 20-year-old Daunte Wright as "an accidental discharge." It happened as police were trying to arrest Wright on an outstanding warrant. The shooting sparked violent protests in a metropolitan area already on edge because of the trial of the first of four police officers charged in George Floyd's death.
"I'll Tase you! I'll Tase you! Taser! Taser! Taser!" the officer is heard shouting on her body camera footage released at a news conference. She draws her weapon after the man breaks free from police outside his car and gets back behind the wheel.
After firing a single shot from her handgun, the car speeds away, and the officer is heard saying, "Holy [expletive]! I shot him."
[Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQlx56s64yI]
President Joe Biden urged calm on Monday, following a night where officers in riot gear clashed with demonstrators. The president said he watched the body camera footage.
"We do know that the anger, pain and trauma amidst the Black community is real," Biden said from the Oval Office. But, he added, that "does not justify violence and looting."
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz instituted another dusk-to-dawn curfew, and law enforcement agencies stepped up their presence across the Minneapolis area. The number of Minnesota National Guard troops was expected to more than double to over 1,000 by Monday night.
While dozens of officers in riot gear and troops guarded the Brooklyn Center police station, more than 100 protesters chanted Wright's name and hoisted signs that read "Why did Daunte die?" and "Don't shoot." Some passing cars flew Black Lives Matter flags out of their windows and honked in support.
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."
Wright "should not have had his life ripped from him last night. The fact that police killed him just miles from where they murdered George Floyd last year is a slap in the face to an entire community who continues to grieve," said Karissa Lewis, the coalition's national field director.
Gannon said at a news conference that the officer made a mistake, and he released the body camera footage less than 24 hours after the shooting.
The footage showed three officers around a stopped car, which authorities said was pulled over because it had expired registration tags. When another officer attempts to handcuff Wright, a second officer tells Wright he's being arrested on a warrant. That's when the struggle begins, followed by the shooting. Then the car travels several blocks before striking another vehicle.
"As I watch the video and listen to the officer's command, 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. "This appears to me from what I viewed and the officer's reaction in distress immediately after that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Wright."
The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was investigating.
Information for this article was contributed by Scott Bauer, Tim Sullivan, Aaron Morrison and Jonathan Lemire of The Associated Press. Mohamed Ibrahim is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
