Police who shot and killed Daunte Wright in Minnesota resign after another day of violent protests

The police who shot and killed Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old black man, in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, resigned their post Tuesday.

"I have loved every minute of being a police officer," said Officer Kim Potter, 

"it's the best for the community, the department and my colleagues,"

says the officer's resignation letter. 

Police Chief Tim Gannon also resigned Tuesday.

"We want to send the message to the community that we are taking this situation very seriously," Mayor Mike Elliott said at a news conference, insisting that the city did not ask them to resign.

Hundreds of protesters challenged the curfew imposed by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Monday night to protest Wright's death during a police check this weekend

.

At least 40 people were arrested

.

The protesters gathered outside the Brooklyn Center Police Station, the Minneapolis suburb where the incident occurred.

After the 7 pm (local time) curfew expired, clashes broke out between protesters and riot control officers from the state's State Police.

[The autopsy confirms that Daunte Wright was killed by a gunshot in the chest.

The mayor asks for the resignation of the agent who shot him]

When the crowd did not disperse, the police started throwing tear gas canisters and stun grenades, and chased some protesters.

Policemen in riot gear standing in a long line, rhythmically beating their batons, began to advance slowly to drive the remaining people back.

"Back off!" The police exclaimed

. "Hands up! Don't shoot!"

people responded.

By 10:00 p.m. there were only a few dozen people left.

Security forces had reinforced their presence in the Minneapolis area following the violent incidents on Sunday.

It was expected that by Monday night there would be more than double the number of National Guards deployed, more than a thousand.

Some officers involved were hit by debris and suffered minor injuries.

There are no reports of protesters injured.

"There were some fires, lasers and enough activity to go against what we have been saying all the time that we would not tolerate," Colonel Matt Langer said at a press conference.

[The mother of three children is suspected of stabbing them to death in Los Angeles]

In parallel to the arrests there were clashes and looting of shops, although some establishments in the area were not broken into as they were defended by armed civilians.

At least five stores were robbed in Minneapolis, according to authorities.

A protester in front of authorities in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, Monday, April 12, 2021.AP Photo / John Minchillo

On Sunday, during a traffic control in Brooklyn Center, a white agent allegedly "accidentally" shot the African-American Daunte Wright, 20, as explained this Monday at a press conference by the local police chief, Tim Gannon. According to Gannon, the police wanted to use a stun gun known as a taser to immobilize Wright, but they got confused and fired a bullet with his firearm that killed the young man.

"I think it was accidental," said the policeman.

The Criminal Detention Office, which is investigating the shooting, identified the officer who shot as Kim Potter, with 26 years of experience and who was left on administrative leave.

[They fire one of the agents who threatened and beat an Afro-Latino soldier in Virginia after the state police opened an investigation]

Regarding the reason for the traffic stop, he explained that the vehicle was intercepted because it did not have some papers in order, after which they asked Wright for identification and then they realized that he had an arrest warrant pending for not having appeared in court for the crimes of illegal possession of a weapon and resistance to authority.

Then, when trying to stop him, he resisted, tried to get back into his vehicle and the police shot him, according to the video of the body camera of the agent involved in the event.

The incident happened as nerves are running high in Minneapolis, which is anxiously awaiting the outcome of the trial against Derek Chauvin, one of four police officers charged in the murder of George Floyd last year, which sparked a wave of racial protests across the country.

Brooklyn Center is a modest suburb north of Minneapolis that has seen a drastic demographic change in recent years.

In 2000, more than 70% of the city was white.

Now, most of the residents are black, of Asian or Latino roots.

[Tennessee high school shooting leaves at least one dead and one cop injured]

Eliott, the city's first black mayor, came to the country as a child as an immigrant from Liberia.

On Monday night he addressed the crowd near the police station alongside Keith Ellison, the state's first black attorney general.

He told the protesters to make their voices heard, but to stay safe.

“We are going to get to the bottom of this, we are going to make sure there is justice, that the agents are held accountable

,

”

Mike Elliott, mayor of Brooklyn Center, told the crowd, according to a video shared by a journalist from the television station. of Minneapolis KARE.

Ellison reminded the people leading the indictment against the first agent charged in Floyd's death and promised that Wright's death "will not be swept under the rug."

[This Hispanic driver feared for his life when he was the target of an undercover police operation]

Organizers of the Movement for Black Lives, a national coalition of more than 150 black political and activist organizations, singled out Wright's death as another reason cities should accept proposals to cut funding to a “racist, broken system of irreparable way ”.

With information from EFE and AP.