The longer these riots continue, the greater the chances there are of people getting seriously hurt or killed on both sides. And it’s already happened. In Indianapolis, a protest over the horrific death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police was marred by a shooting, where three people were shot. One person was killed. This was not an officer-involved shooting (via NBC News):
One person died and two others were struck in a shooting amid demonstrations in Indianapolis, Indiana, Saturday, police said.
The violence was a few blocks from the center of protests in the city, Monument Circle. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Patrolman Michael Hewitt said there was no evidence tying the attack to the protesters.
But Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Deputy Chief Josh Barker said at a press conference that the demonstrations "culminated in three people shot, one person dead," he said.
There were several hundred demonstrators in the city Saturday, police said. Asked about the number of shots-fired reports, Barker said, "We've lost count at this point."
I saw some people dismissing criticism of the riots over last few days by rather ignorantly suggesting the criticism is just about property and lives are more important, but in addition to the neighborhoods being destroyed, people are also dying. https://t.co/doHHKHqIbV
— (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) May 31, 2020
#IMPDNOW: we are investigating multiple shootings Downtown. These are NOT officer-involved incidents. IMPD officers have not fired shots tonight. pic.twitter.com/cnRbrZuFG0
— IMPD (@IMPDnews) May 31, 2020
The wave of protests, many of which have devolved into riots, are out of outrage over Floyd’s death. He was arrested over a false document charge, handcuffed, and later died after an officer knelt on his neck for several minutes. Floyd is on his stomach crying out that he couldn’t breathe. The officer who knelt on him, Derek Chauvin, was fired and booked on third-degree murder and manslaughter charges. The three other officers involved in the arrest were also fired.
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There should be protests over Floyd’s death. Nearly everyone has been outraged by this incidence across the political spectrum. President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Justice to investigate the matter. The FBI is doing the same. But what we’re seeing overall is not protesting in the name of Floyd. It’s now a destructive exercise, with looting, arson, and vandalism becoming hallmark characteristics of what we’re seeing at these Floyd rallies across the country. Minneapolis is a quasi-war zone with our own Julio Rosas on the ground there saying that he’s never witnessed what he’s experienced in the Mill Cityregarding the lawlessness and chaos that has engulfed the region. And he’s covered many protests, some of them loaded with violent Antifa members.
And now we have shooting occurring at these gatherings. In Oakland, California, two federal officers were shot while protecting a courthouse, one later died of his injuries. It was a drive-by shooting (via ABC News):
A federal law enforcement officer in California was shot and killed and another wounded while providing security at the U.S. courthouse in Oakland amid one of the increasingly violent protests unfolding around the country.
“When someone targets a police officer or a police station with an intention to do harm and intimidate — that is an act of domestic terrorism,” Department of Homeland Security Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said at a Washington, D.C., news conference Saturday.
The Oakland shooting occurred after a vehicle pulled up outside the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building at about 9:45 p.m. Friday. Someone opened fire at two contract security officers who worked for Homeland Security's Federal Protective Service, killing one and critically wounding the other, authorities said.
The officers protect federal court houses as part of their regular duties. DHS officials said the two officers were monitoring the Oakland protest over the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.
This has to end. This Democratic Party experiment of ceding portions of the city for these mobs to destroy is nonsense. It’s time to quell this unrest. It’s time to smother this mob. End the riots. Now.
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