A little personal news before we get started. I turned 46 today. It’s also Hound Dog Taylor’s birthday, but the two probably aren’t related. Beyond that, I don’t know what to tell you.
As we start the third week of the former Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin’s trial for causing George Floyd’s death when it was not necessary, the very last thing that was needed was another hinky police-related shooting. However, that’s just what happened. Yesterday afternoon, a young man named Daunte Wright was killed by a single shot to the chest fired by a police officer who’d stopped him, apparently, for an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror. This happened in Brooklyn Center, one of the outer-ring suburbs of Minneapolis. The shooting occurred about 20 miles from where Floyd was killed by Chauvin.
The official word from the Brooklyn Center Police Department is that the officer involved in the shooting meant to use her Taser on Wright and, indeed, shouted to that effect. However, she mistakenly pulled her firearm and, upon shooting him, said, “holy shit, I just shot him.” I don’t know much about handguns or Tasers, but I was under the impression they at least felt different.
Apparently, the police stopped Wright for expired tags – though his mother maintains the air freshener was also a cause, as such things are illegal in Minneapolis – and found he had a warrant out for an unlicensed firearm. We’re told he tried to pull away when the cops tried to handcuff him and that’s when the officer decided he needed Tazing. The cop in question is still unidentified but we’re told she’s a very senior police officer. No gun was found at the scene.
The shooting sparked off heavy protests in a city’s suburban area already on edge thanks to the Chauvin case. Mayor Mike Elliot said the city manager had been fired and the town council gave him complete control over the police department. He supports the firing of the officer in question but, beyond that, them that know say it’s unlikely it will move to any sort of prosecution. It was an “unfortunate accident.”
President Joe Biden cautioned that there was no cause or excuse for violence but there have been some reports of looting during last night’s protests. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz declared a state of emergency and the Minnesota National Guard has been called out to enforce a city-wide 7 p.m. curfew tonight at least.
Austin-East Magnet High School in Knoxville, Tennessee, saw that other grand American tradition this afternoon as one young man was killed and one resource officer was injured this afternoon by an unknown shooter. The shooting went down around 3:15 p.m. Eastern. No other deaths or injuries have been reported.
As of right now, that’s all we know. Nothing has been said about the shooter, though there were reports of a man on campus who wasn’t supposed to be there. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigations will hold a press conference tonight at 8 p.m.
This marks the fourth Austin-East High School student killed by firearms in as many months.
Dear Y'all 