Unrest grips Minneapolis after cops are falsely accused of killing murder suspect who shot himself to death
After a murder suspect killed himself on Nicollet Mall, rumors spread across the city that the man was shot dead by the police who were tailing him. The rumors triggered unrest, looting and chaos in Minneapolis on Wednesday, August 26.
Shortly after the false rumors spread on Twitter, videos emerged of people damaging items in a Target as well as vandalizing the windows of other surrounding stores. Looting also took place in places like Haskell's liquor store, the Medical Arts Building and Nordstrom. The police were seen deploying tear gas to disperse a number of looters who hit a Saks off the 5th Avenue.
BLM are rioting and looting in Minneapolis again after a murder suspect committed suicide. The rioters are falsely claiming police killed him. There’s a graphic video proving what happened. They don’t care. pic.twitter.com/hIN6YHGfWt
— Mark Dice (@MarkDice) August 27, 2020
More looting in downtown Minneapolis. They’ve now breached the Saks 5th Avenue store on 6th and Nicollet and people are making out with lots of goods. pic.twitter.com/tgUIyoIMvf
— Courtney Godfrey (@courtneygodfrey) August 27, 2020
According to the Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell, the protesters threw bottles and set off commercial-grade fireworks and there have been reports of shots fired. Law enforcement officers are currently working to bring the situation under control. To clarify the rumors being spread on social media, Minneapolis police held a press conference and shared the incident's video captured via a city surveillance camera. The graphic video provided by Minneapolis police showed the suspect shooting himself and alarmed people fleeing the area before the cops could arrive. Another video shot by a passerby in the aftermath of the man's suicide showed the person recording loudly accusing the officers of shooting the suspect.
Warning: The following compilation of the two videos has graphic content that might be disturbing to some readers.
This is what lead to the Minneapolis unrest? My soul is exhausted. pic.twitter.com/DehiwJxL4Z
— Kalen From Scriberr (@FromKalen) August 27, 2020
The suspect in question was being followed by police in connection to a deadly shooting that happened just hours before at a parking ramp downtown.
In the light of the looting and growing mayhem in the city, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey implemented a curfew from 10 pm to 6 am the next day and requested the National Guard to be deployed. Following the announcement, there was widespread confusion as the alert for the curfew arrived in the phones of the residents after the restriction was supposed to begin and with the official Twitter account of the city not putting up any announcement whatsoever.
A number of Twitter users took to social media to express their confusion and anger.
Not sure implementing a curfew with no notice relying entirely on phone alerts is the best approach here in Minneapolis. I had to go look to see what was going on. That’s not the way you do this. pic.twitter.com/8551xGpHwO
— EvolvingWild (@EvolvingWild) August 27, 2020
the city of minneapolis randomly declaring an immediate curfew during the uprisings is so fucked up. the fact that the official twitter account for the city still hasn’t announced it but STILL has a video of a Black man’s suicide is actually just too much to bear
— far left aisha ☭ (@diligenda) August 27, 2020
There’s a curfew in Minneapolis and the @StarTribune paywalled the details. Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/FrN7ZxCF0M
— Tony Webster (@webster) August 27, 2020
The decision to bring in extra enforcement was to "stay ahead of the game as much as possible", according to Frey. He also declared a state of emergency in Minneapolis that will be in effect for up to 72 hours. "What we're calling for right now is peace. What we're calling for right now is for people to return to their homes," Frey said during a press conference Wednesday, August 26, night. Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo dispelled the rumors regarding a police shooting floating around on social media. "This is not an officer-related incident," he said. "We're compounding more tragedy by the destruction and folks wanting to do harm to our communities in our downtown sector this evening. This is my city. We will not tolerate that."
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said: "Minneapolis, it's time to heal. We must rebuild and recover. Dangerous, unlawful behavior will not be tolerated. The Minnesota National Guard and State Patrol are headed to Minneapolis to help restore order. I remain in close contact with the city and every state resource stands ready to help bring peace."