National Guard called to Minn. protests
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called in the National Guard on Thursday as looting broke out in St. Paul, and a wounded Minneapolis braced for more violence after rioting over the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man in police custody, reduced parts of one neighborhood to a smoking shambles.
The Minneapolis unrest ravaged several blocks in the Longfellow neighborhood, with scattered rioting reaching for miles across the city. It was the second consecutive night of violent protests following Floyd’s death, which was seen in a video that showed him gasping for breath while an officer kneeled on his neck for almost eight minutes. In footage recorded by a bystander, Floyd pleads he cannot breathe until he slowly stops talking and moving.
It was revealed Thursday that Derek Chauvin, 44, the Minneapolis police officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck, opened fire on two people during his 19-year career and had nearly 20 complaints and two letters of reprimand filed against him. Mr. Chauvin and three other officers were fired after Floyd’s death.
Some stores in Minneapolis and the suburbs closed early, fearing more strife. The city shut down its lightrail system and all bus service out of safety concerns.
Around midday Thursday, the violence spread a few miles away to a Target in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood, where police said 50 to 60 people rushed the store attempting to loot it. Police and state patrol squad cars later blocked the entrance, but the looting then shifted to shops along nearby University Avenue, one of St. Paul’s main commercial corridors, and other spots in the city.
St. Paul spokesman Steve Linders said authorities were dealing with unrest in roughly 20 different areas.