The criminal complaint said Scarsella told a friend who is a police officer in another jurisdiction that he had gotten into an altercation and shot protesters.
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Authorities say hundreds of people marched through the streets and shops of downtown Seattle as part of a Black Lives Matter protest on Black Friday. At least one victim was back protesting Tuesday. All four men are being held in the Hennepin County Jail without bail on suspicion of assault, according to online jail records. Mayor Hodges said police officers are getting daily threats and the area has become a hazard for the public.
A police statement says officers responded to the home just before 8 p.m. Friday.
Protesters have maintained a presence outside the 4th Precinct since Clark, 24, was shot November 15 by police and died a day later.
A major driver in the protest is a demand that investigators release videos taken at the Clark shooting scene.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced the charges against the four men on Monday, saying that one man – Lawrence Scarsella, 23 – had been charged with five counts of second-degree assault and one count of second-degree riot for shooting at the demonstrators.
Several protesters were seen lying face-down on the ground in handcuffs.
Eighteen-year-old Wesley Martin was among some two dozen people at the encampment Monday outside a north side precinct. “Eeven if they make temporary policies under pressure, the fundamental character of what they carry out is institutional”, Taylor said. “We’re patient because we knew you were going to come along, but this isn’t new”. A police spokesman says there were three arrests during the demonstration, two of them traffic related and the third resulted from a battery, but he didn’t elaborate. Some community members have alleged that Clark was handcuffed when he was shot, which police have disputed.
Clark was shot at a time of heightened debate in the United States over police use of lethal force, especially against black people.
Officers recovered guns from inside the residence, according to Elder. A federal civil rights investigation is also underway.
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In the aftermath of the officer-involved shooting, the officers involved were criticized for not deploying their department-issued body-worn cameras before making contact with Jones – a department policy. It also accuses Schwarze of threatening to beat that passenger and another if they exited the vehicle.
