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POLICE IN MINNEAPOLIS have shot and killed a man during a traffic stop on the city’s south side, stirring anxiety about renewed protests following the first police-involved death in the city since George Floyd’s death while being arrested in May.
Police said the man died in an exchange of gunfire, and Chief Medaria Arradondo said witnesses said the man fired first.
He said the officers’ body cameras were turned on and promised to release the video today.
“I want our communities to see that so they can see for themselves,” he said.
“Please allow me, the (state) investigators, allow us the time, let us get the evidence, get the facts, so we can process this.”
Police spokesman John Elder said the incident happened about 6.15pm while officers were carrying out a traffic stop with a man suspected of a felony. Police did not provide details of the supposed felony nor release any information about the man, including his race.
Elder said the man was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel. A woman in the car was unhurt, he said. He declined to say whether police recovered a gun at the site of the shooting, a petrol station.
Elder said no officers were hurt. He said he did not know how many officers were at the scene carrying out the traffic stop or how many were involved in the shooting.
The shooting happened less than a mile from the street corner where Floyd, a black man, died in May after a Minneapolis officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for minutes, even as Floyd pleaded that he could not breathe.
Floyd’s death sparked days of often violent Black Lives Matter protests that spread around the US and to many other countries.
In Minneapolis, Floyd’s death also led to a push for radical change in the police department, long criticised by activists for what they called a brutal culture that resisted change.
A push by some City Council members to replace the department with a new public safety unit failed in the summer.
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I wonder is the media going to report on the protests outside Blanchardstown Gardai Station, Social distance not being adhere to.
@Dave Byrne: ha ha, same BS as the arguments the closet racists used to put down the BLM protests. How predictable of you.
@Dave Byrne: knife wielding maniac lives matter #woke
@Glenn O h’Ailpín: attempted murderer gets shot by guards in the process of attempting murder. Must.blame.the.cops.
@Glenn O h’Ailpín: Closet racist are ye for real ? Is that the best one you can come up with.
@Dave Byrne: only racists practice social distancing apparently
@Glenn O h’Ailpín: Male assaulted a man ( who required hospitalisation). Engaged in another public order incident. Refused to put down the knife. Was tasered and peper sprayed, which had little to no effect. Male then attempts to stab a guard and is shot. What in your wisdom should they have done differently??
@Glenn O h’Ailpín: “I’ve have no argument so you’re clearly a racist” is getting very old now Glenn. Don’t assault innocent people, follow police directions and everyone goes home. Not one thing to do with the colour of anyone’s skin
@my name: sorry trolls who hide behind avatars from Star Wars and Sponge Bob are not to be bothered with. Happy new year. :)
@Glenn O h’Ailpín: again, no argument, just virtue signalling
@Spongetron: sure ‘spongetron’ have a nice new years, toasting to 2021 in your lonely basement.
@Glenn O h’Ailpín: so you’ve nothing to say only how you like to signal. We could do with more of you around the place Glenn.
@Glenn Halpin: aren’t you mature
@Glenn Halpin: resorting to name calling in the absence of any compelling argument is weak. Stop trying to apply American style knee-jerk politcis into Ireland.
@Glenn Halpin: that’s a good one and again you’ve nothing of note to say. Sign of a beaten man
@Dave Byrne: you’re not allowed to have an opinion here that’s different to blm apologists. If your opinion is different you’re automatically a racist in their silly world. The thug who threatened those shop workers in d15 wil always be innocent in their world
@Glenn Halpin: good chap, exposing yourself as an absolute poser, with no clue or idea of a real world, where there are real consequences for your actions. Then resort to throwing accusations of racism when you are shown to have no argument. Then the cherry on top, assuming everyone that disagrees with you is some virgin sitting in their parents basement, do you know how many people in Ireland even have basements?
@Glenn O h’Ailpín: Thing is though that you appear to have gone beyond asking questions.. In your first comment you call the actions of the Gardai “shameful”, so it seems that you don’t need questions answered. You’ve already made up your mind about where the fault lies for this man’s death. What’s wrong with simply saying that you are as ignorant as the rest of us regarding the full facts surrounding the incident ? There will no doubt be an investigation into this incident and the wise choice would be to wait until all the facts are known before coming to any conclusions. We could all sit around and think we know what happened or think we know what should have happened, but at the end of the day all we would have done is drawn a conclusion based on insufficient evidence.
@Tommy Roche: wise words Tommy
@Tommy Roche: that’s all fair enough.
@Tommy Roche: spot on. Thoughts are with the parents of the man who was shot, his victims, especially the Spar manager who is in hospital with serious injuries, and the member of our police force who took the action, as it could not have been an easy decision and is something that he or she, who may be black or white, will live with.
@Glenn O h’Ailpín: a lot of ill informed people have been rushing to judge the actions of the police here. Many of the same calling it racially motivated. However, many, if not all, don’t know the colour of the skin of the garda who intervened. I’m merely calling out that this garda could be either gender and of any race for all the keyboard judges know yet it hasn’t stopped them rushing to judgement and attempting to ignite a debate about racial equality.
@GrumpyAulFella: I have lived in the USA and London as well as here at home in Dublin and here at home in the West. Let me tell you one thing for certain that I have learned, A debate about racial inequality should ALWAYS be on the table. People in their insulated lives here have absolutely no idea how bad it is behind the scenes world wide incl here in Ireland.
@Glenn Halpin: yeah that’s the point I’m making. Don’t have a racial debate until all the facts are known. A lot of people, with certain agendas, are already calling this a racially motivated action without knowing, or deliberately not disclosing, many of the facts.
Here we go again
If he has the right skin colour, it won’t matter who shot first
@Claudia Varell: in 2020 records show police shot 370 white Caucasian , 192 African American, 128 Hispanic
@Dannys Dentures: I’m sure Claudia must mean if the victim was white no one would be on here questioning the Level of the Garda response. Unfortunately the fact he was black will cloud a lot of peoples judgement…. rightly or wrongly
@Glenn O h’Ailpín: well if your going down that road you need to use the % of each involved in crime.
@Glenn O h’Ailpín: those questions will be asked regardless of skin color Glenn
@Glenn O h’Ailpín: is it OK to make racist comments against white cops..?
@Dannys Dentures: Percentage wise Whites must less likely to be shot by cops.
@Glenn Halpin: ah now I understand.. So it’s not racist to make a negative sweeping remark about a group of people based on their skin colour as long as they’re white people. This practise is called “thinking critically”. A practise you’re fond of as can be seen above.
But it is racist to make a negative sweeping remark about a group of people based on their skin colour as long as they’re black people.
OK gotcha.. Glad that’s cleared up..
What happened to the rest of the comments ? It shows 31 but only a few showing.
@Dave Byrne: verboten and deleted.
Fact a dangerous man was posing a deadly threat to the public and that threat was eliminated . forget the bs about shooting in leg and taken down . If you got a maniac heading towards you with a knife and you got a gun you want to stop him by any means necessary. Case closed.
Exchange of gunfire. Nuf said
Oh god I hate the journal you can’t say anything on here with all the snow flake if your not outraged by the protests in ireland then you need to just go away muppets an take your blm with ya c l o w n s
Glenn you should be ashamed of yourself
Can’t the guards be trained to shoot someone in the leg ?
@Paul Doyle: there isn’t a police force anywhere trained to hit a small moving target
@my name: Elite Armed Response Units aren’t regular police, consider them as you would an elite SWAT squad in the USA. Same level of training. This narrative being painted that we should have enormous sympathy for the elite trained police officers who were put in this terrible position, that’s their role and training to deal with these situations professionally and not mine or yours.
@Glenn Halpin: see Glenn it’s you that has a narrative. Because you are factually incorrect and still push the same agenda. You clearly don’t know how they are trained so how can you announce that they are wrong. Just be logical.
@Jumanji: info on their level of training is easily available in the public domain.
@Glenn Halpin: my sympathy is with the deceased’s family, the officers involved and most importantly the innocent man who was left in a serious condition for no other reason than going to work yesterday. No police force is trained to shot at a small moving target that is moving toward them threatening life
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