One Looter Shot Dead in Minneapolis Rioting Following George Floyd Protests
Dan Zimmerman
A man poses for photos in front of a fire at an AutoZone store, while protesters hold a rally for George Floyd in Minneapolis on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. Violent protests over the death of the black man in police custody broke out in Minneapolis for a second straight night Wednesday, with protesters in a standoff with officers outside a police precinct and looting of nearby stores. (Carlos Gonzalez/Star Tribune via AP)
Rodney King, Michael Brown, and now George Floyd. Three very different police-involved incidents, all of which resulted in riots and looting. Last night, parts of the city of Minneapolis were on fire and one man, apparently a looter, was shot to death, possibly by a store owner defending his property. The details are still to be determined.
Minneapolis police mostly stayed back and let it all happen.
The four officers involved in the death of George Floyd have been summarily fired and will likely face criminal charges. Civil suits against the cops and the city are a sure thing. The FBI has opened their own investigation and no one can quite fathom why a knee on the neck of a prone, handcuffed man is ever justified.
— ~♡ Hᴇᴀʟɪɴɢ ᴇʀᴀ⁷♡~✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿 (@MelsBabyAngle) May 28, 2020
Meanwhile our friends on the anti-gun left — those who clamor for ever more laws and declare that police and the military should have a monopoly on the use of deadly force in this country — are strangely quiet for some reason.
By Doug Glass, AP
Fires burned and looters struck Thursday after violent protests over the death of a black man in police custody rocked Minneapolis for a second straight night, with damage stretching for miles across the city.
Protesters in Memphis, Tenn.. gather outside a police precinct Wednesday, May 27, 2020, to voice their anger of the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis. George Floyd died Monday after a white police officer kneeled against his neck for several minutes. (AP Photo/Adrian Sainz)
Amid the violence, a man was found fatally shot Wednesday night near a pawn shop. Asked to confirm reports that he had been shot by a store owner, police spokesman John Elder said that was “one of the theories.”
Pockets of looting continued Thursday at stores where windows and doors were smashed. KSTP-TV reported some fires at businesses continued to burn with no firefighters on scene. A liquor store employee displayed a gun as he stood among the debris of broken bottles and beer cans inside the business.
A man holds up a pig’s head in the direction of Minneapolis police officers behind a barricade in the parking lot outside the Minneapolis Police Department’s 3rd Precinct office in Minneapolis on Wednesday afternoon, May 27, 2020. The mayor of Minneapolis called Wednesday for criminal charges against the white police officer seen on video kneeling against the neck of Floyd George, a handcuffed black man who complained that he could not breathe and died in police custody. (Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via AP)
Protesters began gathering in the early afternoon Wednesday near the city’s 3rd Precinct station, in the southern part of the city where 46-year-old George Floyd died on Memorial Day after an officer knelt on his neck until he became unresponsive. Protesters skirmished with officers, who fired rubber bullets and tear gas in a repeat of Tuesday night’s confrontation.
Inside a looted Target store, Minneapolis Minnesota, early morning hours of May 28 pic.twitter.com/dys87a8npC
On Thursday morning, smoke hung over Minneapolis and looters carried merchandise from a damaged Target store with no interference by police. Video of the store’s interior showed empty clothing racks and shelves and debris strewn about. Obscenities were spray painted on the exterior of the store.
This aerial image provided by KABC-TV shows Black Lives Matter protesters blocking a freeway in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. Hundreds of people protesting the death of a black man in Minneapolis police custody blocked the freeway and shattered the back window of a California Highway Patrol cruiser on Wednesday. (KABC-TV via AP)
Protests spread to other U.S. cities. In California, hundreds of people protesting Floyd’s death blocked a Los Angeles freeway and shattered windows of California Highway Patrol cruisers on Wednesday.
It was the second night of violent protest in Minneapolis since the death of Floyd, whom police were seeking to arrest outside a Minneapolis grocery store on a report of a counterfeit bill being passed. A bystander’s cellphone video showed an officer kneeling on Floyd ‘s neck for almost eight minutes as he eventually became unresponsive.
Protesters damage properties at the Minneapolis 3rd Police Precinct in Minneapolis on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. The mayor of Minneapolis called Wednesday for criminal charges against the white police officer seen on video kneeling against the neck of a handcuffed black man who complained that he could not breathe and died in police custody. (Carlos Gonzalez/Star Tribune via AP)
Mayor Jacob Frey tweeted for calm early Thursday. “Please, Minneapolis, we cannot let tragedy beget more tragedy,” he said on Twitter. He also asked for the public’s help in keeping the peace.
The officer and three others were fired Tuesday, and on Wednesday, Frey called for him to be criminally charged.
Frey asked Gov. Tim Walz to activate the National Guard, a spokesman confirmed Thursday. The governor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Walz tweeted for calm Wednesday night, calling the violence “an extremely dangerous situation” and urging people to leave the scene.
A water bottle thrown by a protester sail through the air near officers on the roof of Minneapolis Police 3rd Precinct, Wednesday, May 27, 2020, in Minneapolis. The mayor of Minneapolis called Wednesday for criminal charges to be filed against the white police officer seen on video kneeling against the neck of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who complained that he could not breathe and died in police custody. (Carlos Gonzalez/Star Tribune via AP)
On Wednesday night, officers responding to a reported stabbing near the protests found a man lying on the sidewalk with what turned out to be a bullet wound, Elder said. The man was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Elder said a suspect was in custody but said the facts leading up to the shooting were “still being sorted out.”
