Daunte Wright allegedly shot teen in head in 2019 and carjacked man weeks before death
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: Three weeks before getting killed by Brooklyn Center Police officer, Kim Potter, 20-year-old Daunte Wright, allegedly participated in the carjacking and also shot a 16-year-old boy in the head, landing him in a "vegetative state."
Reports suggest that Wright was accused of shooting a teenager and a former classmate on separate occasions in a pair of civil lawsuits against his estate. In May 2019, Caleb Livingston, 16, was at a Full Stop gas station in Minneapolis when Wright supposedly pulled out a gun and shot him in the head, according to one of the lawsuits. Livingston is currently in a "vegetative state" known as unresponsive wakefulness syndrome, according to attorney Mike Padden.
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Seven months later, Wright was charged with aggravated robbery after a young woman accused him of looting her on gunpoint and choking her to meet his demands. Wright and a friend allegedly attended a party at the home of two women, then slept over on the floor. The next morning, the victim’s roommate handed her $820 in cash for rent. After she left, Wright allegedly blocked the victim in her apartment and pointed a pistol in her face. "Give me the f**king money," he told her, according to the criminal complaint. "I know you have it." Then he "choked her while trying to pull the cash out from under her bra," she told police. She began to yell after which, Wright allegedly tried choking her again and eventually left empty-handed.
Three weeks before Wright was killed, he and an accomplice allegedly shot former classmate Joshua Hodges in the leg and stole his car, according to the second civil lawsuit. The bullet is said to have broken Hodges's fibula, struck an artery and left permanent damage. Hodges identified Wright because, before the carjacking, he got out of a different vehicle without a mask on and the two made eye contact, according to the lawsuit. Wright allegedly masked up and proceeded anyway. "[Wright] was accidentally killed by a Brooklyn Center police officer on April 11, 2021, approximately three weeks after his crimes against [Hodges]," the civil complaint reads.
The 20-year-old’s criminal record also has misdemeanor punishments for selling drugs and for disorderly conduct. The legal team for Wright’s family, led by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, described the civil complaints as "character assassination." "The audacity of this attorney is disappointing, and we implore members of the community to not be drawn in by these opportunistic efforts to tear down Daunte and hurt his family," they said of Padden. "Ploys like these aim to do one thing: distract. But our team will not be distracted in our fight for justice in this case and in our fight for justice for all marginalized communities."
Wright was shot dead by Brooklyn Center police officer Potter in a traffic stop on April 11, 2021, after she allegedly mistook her gun for her taser. His death sparked weeks of protests in Minneapolis where the trial was underway for ex-cop Derek Chauvin, who was found guilty of George Floyd’s death last year. Wright was not been charged in either of the cases.