Five protesters were shot late Monday night near the Black Lives Matter encampment at the Fourth Precinct police station in north Minneapolis, according to police. When they reached a dark area, the white supremacists turned around and fired on the demonstrators before fleeing. His name was not released pending charges, police said.
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All of the shooting victms have non-life threatening injuries, according to police. Clark’s family has requested an end to the protests but Black Lives matter Minneapolis plans to return on Tuesday for another demonstration despite the shooting and safety concerns. “I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, like surely you’re not shooting at people”, Jie Wronski-Riley, an activist on the scene, told the Star Tribune.
The city approved a $5 million settlement for McDonald’s family in April and federal authorities are investigating the case. This spring, Minneapolis was selected for a U.S. Justice Department program to rebuild trust between police and the communities they patrol.
Police haven’t said what may have motivated Monday’s shooting, and said the matter is still under investigation. Hailing the apprehension of the two suspects, Minneapolis Police Chief Janeé Harteau released a statement declaring local law enforcement to be “true professionals” who had “worked nonstop through the night to bring justice in last night’s shooting”.
Protesters finally had enough Monday night.
Clark died the next day from a gunshot wound to the head.
Black Lives Matter protesters say white supremacists cruise by, shoot video and scope out the crowds. Twitter feeds, using the hashtags #Justice4Jamar and #FourthPrecinctShutdown that they’d been using all week, lit up the Internet with theories of the shooters’ identities and police involvement.
In statement, Clark’s family thanked protesters for “the incredible support”. Witnesses claim that Clark was handcuffed, and on the ground when he was killed by police.
A night after a shooting near a Minneapolis protest that left five people injured, hundreds of demonstrators at the same site quietly milled around, sharing coffee, pizza and doughnuts, and stacking up firewood.
As the firewood was piled high outside the Minneapolis Police Department’s 4th Precinct on Tuesday afternoon, protesters holding boxes of pizza walked through the crowd, offering up slices to those they passed by. The men had been at previous protests, so activists set up a safety committee to be on alert, Noor said. Kandace Montgomery, a spokeswoman for the group, said the shooting has not shaken its resolve.
As protesters took turns speaking, one of the shooting victims returned to the scene, leaning heavily on a cane.
Clark was allegedly the suspect in the domestic violence incident.
Details surrounding Clark’s death have been murky, prompting demonstrators and the NAACP to call for the release of any video from the shooting of the 24-year-old African-American man.
Kyle Loven, a spokesman for the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Minneapolis Division, said the FBI was “aware of last night’s incident and is coordinating with the Minneapolis Police to assess the situation and determine whether federal action is appropriate”.
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Johnson disputed comments that police had taken too long to react to the shooting, and said officers responded in three minutes. About a half-block from the Fourth Precinct, the epicenter of the protests, the masked men opened fire, she said.
