Protests flare in Minneapolis after 20-year-old Black man shot in traffic stop

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Cheryl Teh
·4 min read
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Police officers on October 27, 2020 in Washington, DC. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

  • Hundreds of protesters clashed with Minneapolis police after a Black man was fatally shot at a traffic stop.

  • The family of Daunte Wright, 20, said he was pulled over for displaying an air freshener.

  • Protests flared near Brooklyn Center hours after the shooting, with riot police out in force.

  • Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Hundreds of protesters clashed with Minneapolis police after the fatal shooting of a 20-year-old Black man at a traffic stop.

While the police have not yet named the victim, the family of Daunte Wright, 20, say that he was shot on Sunday afternoon after being stopped for a traffic violation.

This incident flared tensions in the city, where former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is being tried for the murder of George Floyd. Floyd's death in May 2020 was the driving force behind the Black Lives Matter protests that swept the nation, and Wright's death as Chauvin's trial is ongoing has opened old wounds.

Brooklyn Center - where Wright was shot on Sunday afternoon - is a half hour drive from where Chauvin's trial is underway.

Wright's mother, Katie Wright, said that her son was killed by a police officer after being pulled over for displaying an air freshener in his rearview mirror.

She pleaded in a video posted on Twitter for people to come forth with more information on the case, and for the authorities to move her son's body off the street.

"All he did was have an air freshener in the car and they told him to get out of the car. He got out of the car, and his girlfriend said they shot him," Katie Wright said.

"Now he's dead on the ground since 1.47 pm. Nobody will tell us anything," she said. "Nobody will talk to us. I said please take my son off the ground."

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While it is unclear why exactly Wright was pulled over, he may have been stopped for a rarely-enforced traffic law that makes it illegal to hang anything from one's rearview mirror that may obstruct vision: and that could be anything from an air freshener to a keychain.

The Washington Post spoke to Aubrey Wright, 42, Daunte's father, who said that his son was heading to the car wash in his new vehicle. He heard that his son was shot when he received a call from his wife.

Wright told the Post: "She was screaming over the phone. She was saying, 'Daunte was shot!'"

ABC News reported that eyewitness Carolyn Hanson saw police officers drag Wright out of the vehicle to perform CPR on him. Hanson also told ABC that she saw another passenger get out of the car "covered in blood."

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According to local news outlet Minneapolis Star Tribune, crowds gathered near Brooklyn Center in the hours following the incident, with officers clad in riot gear pushing back against protesters.

The Tribune reported that around 500 people headed to the Brooklyn Center police headquarters at 9.30pm - around 7 hours after Wright's death - pushing past police tape and clashing with officers clad in riot gear.

The windshields of two squad cars were smashed during the clash. Tear gas, stun grenades, and non-lethal rounds were also fired to disperse the crowd.

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A statement by the Brooklyn Center police department did not identify Wright but said that a man with an "outstanding warrant" was stopped for a traffic violation.

According to the statement, Wright was outside his car and then "re-entered the vehicle" when an officer shot him.

"The vehicle traveled several blocks before striking another vehicle. Officers in pursuit and responding medical personnel attempted life-saving measures, but the person died at the scene," said the statement, adding that a female passenger in the vehicle was brought to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The police department added that body and dash cameras were switched on during the incident and that an independent investigation into the case has been opened.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Read the original article on Insider

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