At other times, they danced, sang and chanted, “No justice, no peace, prosecute the police”. “Prosecute the police.” “Send those killer cops to jail”.
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No one suffered life-threatening wounds in Monday night’s shooting, which took place about a block from the police department’s Fourth Precinct, where protesters have been demonstrating since the November 15 death of Jamar Clark, 24, who was shot by a police officer. When they reached a dark area, the white supremacists turned around and fired on the demonstrators before fleeing.
All five of those wounded were hospitalized late Monday with injuries that were not life-threatening.
Grimm said protesters had been threatened by one group online and had been working with hackers to figure out the group’s plans. A 32-year-old Hispanic had been detained and questioned but was released when the police determined that he was not involved in the Monday night shooting, they said. “They didn’t say anything”.
At around 2 a.m. Wednesday, that changed.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said it will be up to a grand jury to decide whether to bring charges against officers in Clark’s death.
The Minneapolis Police Department on Tuesday confirmed all four suspects were in police custody.
The Black Lives Matter chapter called the shooting “white supremacist terrorism”. Clark’s shooting comes at a time of heightened debate in the United States over police use of lethal force, especially against black people.
After the shooting, Clark’s brother, Eddie Sutton, released a statement asking the protests to stop for the safety of everyone. He says, “If we fold on it, they won”.
But Sutton says that in light of the shooting of five people near the 4th Precinct sit-in, the family believes the demonstrations there should be ended “out of imminent concern for the safety of the occupiers”.
“We will not bow to fear or intimidation”, Black Lives Matter Minneapolis’ Miski Noor said.
It’s happened almost each night of the occupation at Minneapolis’ 4th Precinct.
Pastor Danny Givens Jr. of Above Every Name Church said the demonstrators would not be scared away.
Then, Wronksi-Riley said, gunshots were heard, and two young Black men on either side of him were hit, one in the back and leg, the other in the arm.
Police at the scene of the shooting.
On Tuesday morning, officials from several state agencies met to discuss whether to label the shooting as a hate crime, a source close to the case told the Minnesota newspaper.
“One of the white protesters who had been with us since the beginning said, ‘Be careful, those guys are white supremacists, ‘ ” Brown told the Washington Post, referring to the three men and one woman in balaclavas.
Hodges called for a federal investigation into Clark’s fatal shooting the day after he was shot, and met with protesters last week at Minneapolis City Hall.
Authorities have refused to release the video, taken from the rear of an ambulance, on the grounds that it might taint the investigation. One demonstrator said the assailants used “police tactics”. That prompted marchers to chant: “Handcuffed?”
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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. Authorities said Clark scuffled with officers after he interfered with paramedics working with an assault victim.
