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Who was Daunte Wright? Man, 20, shot dead by Brooklyn Center cops as he tried to get into car amid traffic stop

A news release from Brooklyn Center cops stated that the officers found the driver had an outstanding warrant and so they attempted to take the man into custody outside the vehicle

PLYMOUTH, MINNESOTA: A 20-year-old man was shot dead by the police in Plymouth on Sunday, April 11. Some of the relatives of the victim told a crowd in the Brooklyn Center that the fatal incident happened just before he was getting back into his car and was driving to the Brooklyn Center. Reports also quotes family members say the young man was shot after being pulled over for displaying an air freshener from his rearview mirror in his mother’s car. 

Officials with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension confirmed the news that the agency was on the scene of a shooting involving a cop in the Brooklyn Center at that time when Daunte Wright, a father-of-one, was shot dead. The paramedics arrived at 1:48 pm and found him dead. A police officer was taken to the hospital with injuries. By Sunday, April 11, evening, around 100 people, many of them, who seemed visibly upset, gathered near the scene, at the intersection of 63rd Avenue North and Lee Avenue North, in a scene that could remind many of what happened after George Floyd's death last year.

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Brooklyn Center police stopped a car for a “traffic violation” in the 6300 block of Orchard Avenue shortly before 2 pm Sunday, April 11, according to a news release issued by the Brooklyn Center Police Department. The news release stated that the officers found the driver had an outstanding warrant and so they attempted to take the man into custody outside the vehicle. “At one point as officers were attempting to take the driver into custody, the driver re-entered the vehicle. One officer discharged their firearm, striking the driver. The vehicle traveled several blocks before striking another vehicle. Officers in pursuit and responding medical personnel attempted life-saving measures, but the person died at the scene,” the press release said. A woman who was a passenger in the vehicle suffered injuries that weren't life-threatening during the crash and was taken to North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale. People in the other vehicle were not injured.

Brooklyn Park Sgt Mike Peterson questioned Wright's family and asked the crowd at the demonstration at the venue to back up, saying he doesn't know what happened. Wright's mother, Katie Wright, tearfully asked what happened to her son and was asking for more information, she also pleaded for her son's body to be moved from the street. A woman who lives near the crash scene, Carolyn Hanson, said she saw officers pull a man out of a car and perform CPR. A passenger who got out of the vehicle was covered in blood, she added.

Sharing the video of the scene journalist Kim Hyatt said, "Tense scene at the intersection of 63rd and Lee Ave N in Brooklyn Center. A crowd is shouting at the press and police saying that an officer didn’t have to kill a man. BCA is here investigating." She also shared the picture of the person and wrote: "Mother Katie Wright sent me this photo of her son with her grandson Daunte Jr. He’ll be 2 years old in July."

Soon, more and more people started talking about the incident. One person said, "Even in the middle of Derek Chauvin's trial, the police can't stop killing. Minneapolis police killed Daunte Wright, a young, unarmed Black man, this afternoon." While another person said, "CW / TW POLICE MURDER . . . . this is happening right now, please keep your eye on minnesota. His name was Daunte Wright. He was only 20 years old. He got pulled over for having an air freshener around his rearview mirror."

Sharing the tweet, another one said, "Police keep killing and harassing Black people even with the backdrop of the George Floyd trial going on. They don’t care. There’s no reform for this. Abolish the police. Love to the family and friends of Daunte Wright." Saddened by the incident, one person said, "Here’s the thing: when you’re constantly killing black men, you’ve lost the benefit of the doubt. So sad to see this in my state AGAIN."

The death comes amid the ongoing trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the killing of a Black man, George Floyd, in south Minneapolis in May of 2020. 

These remarks were made by the Internet and individual organizations, MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and nor does it support these claims being made on the Internet.