Police chief: Cop pulled gun, not Taser
Says Black man was shot in error in Minn. suburb
The police officer who fatally shot a 20-year-old Black man in Brooklyn Center, Minn., Sunday mistakenly fired her firearm instead of her Taser, the Minneapolis suburb’s police chief said Monday.
In other words, Daunte Wright’s death was a mistake — “an accidental discharge,” according to statements made by Police Chief Tim Gannon, who played a portion of video recorded by the officer’s body camera at an afternoon news conference.
In the video, the officer can be heard warning Wright that she will tase him, then yelling “Taser! Taser! Taser!” as she draws her actual firearm and fires one shot before screaming “Holy sh--! I shot him!”
“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. “This appears to me, from what I viewed in the officer’s reaction and distress immediately after, that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Wright.”
Wright appears to have been unarmed; Gannon said no gun was found in or near the vehicle that Wright was pulled over in.
Monday evening, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office said Wright died of a single gunshot would to the chest and classified the death as a homicide.
The revelations come at an extraordinary moment for race relations in the Twin Cities — prompting Gov. Tim Walz to declare a 7 p.m. curfew and the postponements of Monday’s games by the Minnesota Twins vs. the Red Sox, the NHL Wild and NBA’s Timberwolves.
The region was already on edge amid this week’s developments in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, the white cop on trial for murder after kneeling on George Floyd’s neck — killing him, in the eyes of prosecutors, who are wrapping up their side of the case this week.
Wright’s shooting Sunday afternoon following a traffic stop soon prompted protests that turned into violence Sunday night, with Gannon saying concrete blocks and frozen soda cans were hurled at police officers while a number of businesses in Brooklyn Center were looted, with some property damage reported in St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Floyd’s killing prompted international protests that spawned widespread violence in St. Paul and Minneapolis last May, and leaders Monday explicitly said they won’t tolerate a riotous repeat as they announced a massive mobilization of law enforcement and upwards of 1,000 members of the Minnesota Guard.
The backdrop raised the profile of the incident to national proportions, as President Biden watched the footage soon after it was released and joined the procession of officials in calling for peace.
“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.”
Many aspects of Wright’s killing remain unclear, but new details emerged Monday that portrayed a fairly routine traffic stop that escalated into an arrest before it turned deadly — apparently by accident.
According to police statements and the medical examiner’s office, shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday, officers pulled over the vehicle Wright was driving because it appeared to have expired tabs. It wasn’t entirely clear if there might have been another reason connected to the appearance or characteristics of the vehicle itself.
Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, said her son called her as he was getting pulled over.
“All he did was have air fresheners in the car, and they told him to get out of the car,” Wright told the Associated Press. During the call, she said she heard scuffling and then someone saying “Daunte, don’t run” before the call ended. When she called back, her son’s girlfriend answered and said he had been shot.
At some point, officers decided they needed to detain Wright on suspicion that there was a warrant for his arrest for weapons violations.
Court records show Wright was being sought after failing to appear in court on charges that he fled from officers and possessed a gun without a permit during an encounter with Minneapolis
police in June. In that case, a statement of probable cause said police got a call about a man waving a gun who was later identified as Wright.
In the one-minute video, a different officer is attempting to handcuff Wright, when Wright appears to wrestle himself free and get back into the car.
A female’s voice is heard yelling “I’ll tase you! I’ll tase you!” and then “Taser! Taser! Taser!” as the video shows a handgun extended toward Wright. Gannon said officers are trained to yell “Taser” to alert nearby officers that the electrical stun gun is about to be fired.