After a violent Sunday evening of looting and rioting outside Minneapolis, the Brooklyn Center Police Department released body camera footage of the events leading up to the shooting death of Daunte Wright.
Tim Gannon, Brooklyn Center's Chief of Police, shared the body camera footage from Sunday afternoon's officer-involved shooting during a press conference.
Chief Gannon described the video to reporters, calling the incident "an accidental discharge" that resulted in the "tragic death of Mr. Wright."
#BREAKING: BODYCAM FOOTAGE: Brooklyn Center Police release body cam shooting of the fatal officer involved shooting in Minnesota yesterday. The officer accidentally discharged her Service gun instead of deploying her Taser. The Officer has been placed on administrative leave. pic.twitter.com/b97BmOEjhU
— Fernando Gonzalez (@FernyOfficial) April 12, 2021
An officer can be heard yelling "Taser! Taser!" just before firing a shot.
"There's nothing I can say to lessen the pain of Mr. Wright's family," Chief Gannon noted. "That pain is shared by the community and also all those involved in the incident."
"What I can do is convey my deepest sympathies to the Wright family, and be transparent with the information I'm aware of at this time."
Addressing the overnight violence that came in response to the shooting, Chief Gannon—who has served for more than two decades with the Brooklyn Center Police Department—said his officers would "fully support" peaceful protesting but that the "ravaging of our businesses, the looting of our stores, the destruction to our pharmacies—we cannot tolerate that."
As our own Julio Rosas noted earlier, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) has thus far failed to condemn the latest round of violence breaking out in his state.