The Minnesota National Guard was deployed on Sunday night in response to protests over the police killing of a Black man during a traffic stop, CNN reports.
Duante Wright, 20, was shot and killed by police after being pulled over on Sunday afternoon in Brooklyn Center, a Minneapolis suburb with a population of around 30,000 people.
Police said that they tried to arrest Wright after learning he had outstanding warrants. Wright tried to flee and got back in his car before an officer shot him, according to police. Wright drove several blocks before crashing his car. Police said officers and medical responders tried to assist Wright but he died at the scene.
The shooting comes during the trial for former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin, whose killing of George Floyd sparked mass unrest in the city and across the country last summer.
"Gwen and I are praying for Daunte Wright's family as our state mourns another life of a Black man taken by law enforcement," Minneapolis Mayor Tim Walz tweeted.
Mom says Wright was pulled over for air fresheners:
Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, told reporters that her son called her as he was pulled over.
"He said they pulled him over because he had air fresheners hanging from the rearview mirror," she said. "A minute later, I called and his girlfriend answered, which was the passenger in the car, and said that he'd been shot."
Wright told the crowd that gathered outside the Brooklyn Center police headquarters that officers ordered her son out of the car and to put his phone down. She then heard someone telling her son not to run before the call ended.
“He was only 20 years old and he didn’t deserve to be shot and killed like this,” Wright said. “And I don’t want all of this, all of this. I just want my baby home. That’s all I want is I want him to be home. I don’t want everybody out here chanting and screaming, yelling, I just want him home, that’s it.”
National Guard deployed after unrest:
Crowds of protesters began to gather at the scene of the shooting and clashed with police.
The protesters then marched to the Brooklyn Center Police Department, where officers formed a human barricade around the building and deployed tear gas and flashbangs.
Some people broke into and looted several nearby stores and attacked police cars.
The city issued a curfew overnight and the state deployed its National Guard and State Patrol.
