MINNEAPOLIS -- A Minneapolis police officer shot and killed a man who reportedly opened fire on officers during a traffic stop Wednesday night, sparking new tensions in a city still deeply on edge since the police killing of George Floyd in May and the unrest that followed.
Scores of protesters quickly descended on the scene of the shooting in a gas station parking lot in south Minneapolis, about a mile from the intersection where Floyd was killed, facing off in below-freezing weather with police officers wearing riot gear, some clutching batons and cans of pepper spray.
The scene, reminiscent of clashes between police and demonstrators in the aftermath of Floyd's death, continued into the early hours Thursday and prompted calls for peace from Minneapolis officials anxious to avoid a repeat of the May unrest that left parts of the city burned and destroyed.
In a late-night news conference, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo announced he would release body camera footage of the shooting Thursday in an effort to calm tensions and increase transparency about the incident. He said his department would protect the public's right to "freely assemble and demonstrate" but said he would not tolerate "destructive criminal behavior."
"Our city has gone through too much," Arradondo said.
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The shooting occurred around 6:15 p.m. Wednesday at a Holiday gas station at 36th and Cedar Avenue in south Minneapolis, where officers pulled over what police officials described as a "felony suspect." Arradondo said witnesses at the scene told police the man fired first and officers "exchanged gunfire" with the man, who was hit and killed. It was not clear if officers had verbally engaged the man before the shooting occurred or how many shots were fired.
Arradondo declined to discuss why police were looking for the man, but noted that the officers involved are members of a community response team, which typically deals with cases including drug and gun investigations.
An officer at the scene immediately radioed for help, the sound of gunfire crackling over the police radio.
"We have two people inside the vehicle," the unidentified officer told dispatchers. "One male is down. We still have one female in the car with her hands up."
Police did not identify the man or say how many times he had been shot. Police also did not identify the race of the suspect or the officers involved. The woman in the car was not wounded nor were any officers at the scene, according to police.
It was the first killing by police since Floyd's Memorial Day death. The 46-year-old Black man died after being handcuffed and restrained facedown on the street by police responding to a 911 call about a counterfeit $20 bill that had been passed at a convenience store. After a struggle, then-officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes as the man repeatedly complained of struggling to breathe.
Chauvin, who was with the department for 19 years, has been charged with murder, and three other officers at the scene -- J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas K. Lane and Tou Thao -- have been charged with aiding and abetting.
All four were fired from the department and are scheduled to go on trial in March.
Word of the Wednesday's shooting quickly spread on social media, including rumors about the race of the suspect and how many times he had been shot and where.
Within hours, a crowd began to gather, including many who had walked over from 38th and Chicago, the site where Floyd was killed.
Both Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, and Arradondo asked the protesters to wait for the results of the investigation. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension will investigate the shooting, the chief said, and a police union representative told the Star Tribune that the officers involved were waiting to be interviewed by state investigators.
"Events of this past year have marked some of the darkest days in our city. We know that a life has been cut short and that trust between communities of color and law enforcement is fragile," Frey said in a statement. "We must all be committed to getting the facts, pursuing justice, and keeping the peace."
The City Council recently voted to strip $8 million out of the police budget, redirecting those funds to other city services as part of an effort to "transform" public safety.
The vote took place as the Police Department has confronted an unprecedented wave of violence -- with 82 people killed and at least 550 shot this year -- and scores of officer departures in recent months.