In Minneapolis, the First Police Killing Since George Floyd

City's police chief: Bodycam footage to be released of shootout that killed suspect
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 31, 2020 7:40 AM CST
Less Than Mile From Where Floyd Died, a Cop Shooting
A community member tries to calm tensions between community members and police after police shot and killed a man during a traffic stop Wednesday in Minneapolis.   (Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via AP)

Less than a mile from where George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police in the spring, a fatal police shooting during a traffic stop Wednesday evening spurred a protest and a plea from city officials to keep the calm. The city's police department says officers were conducting a traffic stop in the Powderhorn neighborhood at around 6:15pm local time when gunfire rang out and the suspect was killed, KSTP reports. Police Chief Medaria Arradondo says that initial witness statements indicate the suspect fired at the officers first, at which point the officers returned fire. No one else was injured, including a woman who was in the passenger seat of the suspect's car, police say. Arradondo says bodycam footage showing the incident will be released on Thursday.

Arradondo adds the officers involved had pulled the suspect over because they believed he'd committed a felony; Arradondo didn't know what that felony was, per the New York Times. The officers "have all been isolated" and will be questioned by the state's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, a police rep said, per the Star Tribune, which notes this was the first police killing in the city since Floyd's May 25 death. A group of about 100 protesters gathered near the shooting site, hurling snowballs and cursing at cops. "I recognize the trauma that our city has been under, and we want to do everything we can to maintain the peace," Arradondo said after the shooting, adding that while cops support protesters' freedom of speech, "we cannot allow for destructive criminal behavior." "Our city has gone through too much," he added. (More Minneapolis stories.)

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