Daunte Wright protests
s and civil disorder occurred in reaction to the killing of Daunte Wright on April 11, 2021. Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by police officer Kimberly Potter during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, United States. Protests that first began in Brooklyn Center spread to other locations in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area and then to other cities in the United States. Several nights of civil disorder in Brooklyn Center and adjacent cities resulted in sporadic looting and damage to several hundred properties, including four businesses that were set on fire.
Wright's death came during a prolonged period of unrest in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area over police brutality and racial injustice, notably due to the murder of George Floyd and the trial of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who murdered Floyd. Protesters demanded justice for Wright's death and made several demands of public officials, including a more severe murder charge for Potter, an independent investigation of the shooting, and enactment of police reform measures.
In mid-April 2021, many local protests were held outside the Brooklyn Center police station on Humboldt Avenue. Law enforcement established a heavily fortified barrier area and periodically clashed with demonstrators over several days. Demonstrators made several attempts to overrun the security barrier established around the police station during a few nights of tense protests. Law enforcement fired tear gas and less-lethal munitions into the crowds. Protesters later demanded that criminal charges be dropped against demonstrators over Wright's death, and that law enforcement discontinue aggressive crowd control methods. In three separate incidents, law enforcement and Minnesota National Guard troops had gunshots fired at them during civil disorder in the week after Wright's death.
Protests resumed in late 2021 during Potter's criminal trial with most demonstrations concentrated in downtown Minneapolis near a court building. A jury convicted Potter of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter charges on December 23, 2021. Protests were held as a reaction to Potter's prison sentence, which was for two years rather than the seven years requested by the state, and a few instances of looting took place in Brooklyn Center and Minneapolis.
Background
Killing of Daunte Wright
Daunte Wright was an unarmed, 20-year-old biracial Black man, who was fatally shot by Brooklyn Center police officer Kimberly Potter during an altercation at a traffic stop on April 11, 2021, on 63 Avenue North in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Police said Potter had meant to use her Taser but accidentally used a handgun.Brooklyn Center
Brooklyn Center is a city in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, bordering Minneapolis to the north. It had a population of nearly 31,000 residents by 2021, and it had transformed from a mostly White suburb to one of the most diverse areas in the region over the previous decades with most of its residents people of color. The city was also one of the poorest in Hennepin County; 15 percent of residents lived below the federal poverty level. In 2019, voters elected Mike Elliot, a Liberian-American, to be the city's first person-of-color mayor. By the time of Wright's death, most of the city's police force were White, and no officers lived within the city's boundaries.Previous law enforcement killings in Minnesota
Wright's killing was the sixth by Brooklyn Center police officers since 2012, and all but one were of persons of color. At least 207 people have been killed by law enforcement in Minnesota between 2000 and 2021, according to a local newspaper database. Wright's death became the third high-profile death of a Black man in the Minneapolis area over the preceding five years during a police encounter. In 2016, Philando Castile was shot to death by a police officer during a traffic stop in the nearby city of Falcon Heights, and Floyd was murdered in 2020. The fatal shooting of Justine Damond, a White woman, by a Black Minneapolis police officer in 2017 also resulted in controversy, and a conviction of third-degree murder and manslaughter for the officer that shot her. The fatal shooting of Jamar Clark by a Minneapolis police officer during an arrest in 2015, and the exchange of gunfire with Minneapolis police that left Dolal Idd dead during an attempted sting operation in December 2020, were also sources of controversy and protests over the killing of Black men.Previous racial injustice protests and unrest
In 2020 and 2021, the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan region experienced a prolonged period of protests and intermittent unrest over issues of police brutality and racial justice, beginning soon after the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. Three nights of riots and looting from May 27 to May 30, 2020, resulted in two deaths, 617 arrests, and upwards of $500 million in property damage to 1,500 locations in the metropolitan region, making it the second-most destructive period of local unrest in United States history, after the 1992 Los Angeles riots. During the unrest, on May 28, 2020, a Minneapolis police station was overrun by demonstrators and set on fire.Wright's death in Brooklyn Center was approximately from the 38th and Chicago Avenue street intersection in Minneapolis where George Floyd was murdered. Wright's death, and the subsequent protests, occurred as the trial of Derek Chauvinthe police officer who murdered Floydwas nearing its conclusion in Minneapolis. According to The New York Times, the fatal shooting of Wright "injected more frustration and anxiety into the Twin Cities region", heightening local tension and outrage. By early April 2021, state officials had already begun mobilizing law enforcement and National Guard troops, in an effort referred to as "Operation Safety Net", in preparation for a verdict in the Chauvin trial. Officials hoped to avoid a repeat of the civil disorder, violence, and property destruction that the metropolitan region experienced in May and June 2020 after Floyd's murder.
Events in Brooklyn Center and Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Initial protests and civil disorder
Day 1: Sunday, April 11, 2021
On April 11, 2021, at 1:48 p.m., officer Kimberly Potter with the police department of Brooklyn Center, a suburb of Minneapolis–Saint Paul, shot 20-year-old Daunte Wright, a black man, during a traffic stop. Wright had an outstanding warrant for his arrest. As officers attempted to detain him, a struggle ensued and Wright re-entered his vehicle. Potter discharged her firearm, believing she was using her taser gun instead, striking Wright before he drove off. Wright crashed his vehicle several blocks away. Though EMS arrived and attempted to revive him, Wright was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. Wright's girlfriend was also a passenger in the car. She sustained non-life-threatening injuries from the crash and was transported to the hospital.As news of the Brooklyn Center incident spread, family members of Wright, neighbors to the car crash, and protesters began gathering at the car crash scene in Brooklyn Center in what was initially a peaceful demonstration to demand justice for Wright. Several protesters came from another rally organized by families of people who had been killed by police, that they had held earlier in the day in nearby Saint Paul, Minnesota. The crowd grew to several hundred people by evening as they demanded more information from police investigators. As tension at the scene rose over the ensuing hours, police in tactical gear arrived, formed a line, and moved in when demonstrators began climbing on police vehicles and throwing bricks. Police fired tear gas into the crowd and a less-lethal round that struck a demonstrator in the head who appeared to be holding a chunk of concrete.
In nearby Saint Paul, four people were arrested during looting in the afternoon. Liquor stores, cell phone stores, and gas stations along University Avenue, Marshall Avenue, Payne Avenue, Arcade Street and Sherwood Avenue were looted.
At nightfall, demonstrators gathered outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department building on Humboldt Avenue and stood off against a line of police in riot gear. Authorities declared the gathering unlawful and gave orders for the crowd to disperse. When crowds did not disperse, police fired tear gas, flashbangs, and rubber bullets into the crowd, scattering demonstrators. According to John Harrington, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, there were reports of rocks and other objects being thrown and gunshots being fired in the area.
Violence and widespread looting occurred at many stores overnight in Brooklyn Center, in Minneapolis, and at other locations in the Twin Cities region. In Brooklyn Center, looting took place at the Shingle Creek Crossing shopping plaza, and affected nearly every store located there. Brooklyn Center Police reported that at its peak, there were 24 simultaneous looting incidents. In Brooklyn Park, an adjacent city to Brooklyn Center, a gunshot was fired into the glass door of a police station, though no one was injured. Late that night, Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott imposed an overnight curfew and the city announced closure of its schools for April 12. State officials began deployment of the Minnesota National Guard to Brooklyn Center and throughout the metropolitan area to provide non-police security.
About 25–30 people were arrested overnight in Minneapolis by law enforcement. Several Minneapolis businesses were looted on Sunday evening, many of which had been looted during the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul in May 2020. Property damage was also reported in Saint Paul overnight.
Day 2: Monday, April 12, 2021
The overnight curfew was lifted at 6:00 a.m. on Monday, April 12, 2021. Students in Brooklyn Center were ordered to stay home on Monday for fears of further violence. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner report released that day ruled Daunte Wright's death a homicide, and officials identified Potter as the officer who shot Wright.In anticipation of civil unrest following the shooting, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz implemented a curfew in the metropolitan counties Hennepin, Ramsey, Anoka, and Dakota from 7:00 p.m. on April 12, 2021, to 6:00 a.m. on April 13. Approximately 1,000 members of the Minnesota National Guard were deployed across the Twin Cities to provide a non-police security presence. Several Minnesota professional sports teamsTimberwolves, Twins, and Wild cancelled their scheduled home games for April 12. City officials in Brooklyn Center fired their longtime city manager, which had been a demand of protesters. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey declared a state of emergency and a curfew effective from 7:00 p.m. on April 12 until 6:00 a.m. on April 13. Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter declared a state of emergency and a curfew on Monday.
By noon, 50 protesters were facing off with an equal number of National Guard personnel in Brooklyn Center. Authorities erected concrete barricades and chain-link fencing around the city's police station.
The Brooklyn Center City Council passed a resolution banning choke holds and use of dangerous crowd control tactics such as tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and protester kettling. Police, however, still used the tactics during the response. Brooklyn Center also officials released the body camera footage of Potter shooting Wright during a press conference. At one point during the day, Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliot stood outside the police station alongside protesters and spoke to the gathered crowd about ensuring justice and accountability for the shooting of Wright.
In an afternoon press conference in Washington, D.C., President Joe Biden commented on the situation in Brooklyn Center during a meeting with members of congress about his economic agenda. Biden called for an investigation into the killing and said "our prayers are with the family" of Daunte Wright. He added about the unrest, "But, in the meantime, I want to make it clear again: There is absolutely no justification—none—for looting, no justification for violence. Peaceful protest, understandable."
For a second night in a row, a large protest gathered after curfew at the Brooklyn Center police headquarters. The 7 p.m. curfew was ignored by crowds of hundreds, leading to clashes between rioter and police with arrests starting around 9:00 p.m. Some demonstrators threw bottles and bricks and shot fireworks at police officers and National Guard troops. Police deployed gas canisters and flash-bang grenades to disperse the crowd. By 10 p.m. the police had cleared the area around the police station.
Sporadic looting was reported at several Brooklyn Center businesses throughout the night. Fire department crews responded to smoke coming from a Dollar Tree stored that had been looted and set on fire. By 12:30 a.m. on April 13, 40 people had been arrested in Brooklyn Center, according to a report state law enforcement released the next day, and several police officers reported minor injuries from objects thrown at officers.