Memories of Floyd killing
US police shoot black man in action
2/5/2022 3:42 p.m
Two years after the killing of George Floyd, a police officer shot a black man while on duty in Minneapolis. A bodycam video shows that the fatal shots were fired a few seconds after the officers stormed into his apartment. The relatives speak of an “execution”.
The death of a black man in a police operation in the US metropolis of Minneapolis has sparked new dismay in the United States. The 22-year-old was shot dead by officers entering his home on a search warrant on Wednesday. Mayor Jacob Frey announced on Friday that such practices, in which the police do not have to make themselves known at the door, would be stopped. The parents accused the officers of executing their son upon waking up.
Almost two years ago, African American George Floyd was killed in a brutal police operation in Minneapolis. At the time, this led to nationwide protests against police violence and racism – and also to a lot of criticism internationally.
Bodycam video shows use
The city has now released a body camera video of the operation, which police said happened at 6:48 a.m. (local time). It shows the officers gaining access to the apartment and then loudly announcing their presence. The room is darkened. Someone is lying on a sofa, wrapped under a white blanket.
A few seconds later, a police officer kicks the sofa. The 22-year-old then begins to move. The movement of the ceiling reveals that a smartphone is lying next to him, connected to a charging cable. He also has a pistol in his hand. How he moves the gun – whether he’s grabbing it or putting it down, whether he’s about to raise it or lower it – is not clearly evident when viewing the video through a low-resolution Internet browser. An officer immediately fired multiple shots at the man.
The Minneapolis Police Department speaks in a message of the man’s gun being pointed at the police officers. This cannot be clearly seen on the video in the quality available on US news sites. Officials may have more bodycam videos. More details might be better seen in the video footage of one of the police officers in the front row. The released bodycam video is among others at the Star Tribune to see. It contains disturbing images that can trigger emotional reactions in viewers.
Police chief announces investigation
“It seems like he didn’t have a chance,” said the father of the dead man. He saw the video with “disbelief and anger”. Less than ten seconds elapsed between the officers arriving and the shots being fired. The police “could have done everything differently”. His son, who had no criminal record and a gun license, “did what any sane, law-abiding citizen would do, white or black,” the father said.
Acting Minneapolis Police Commissioner Amelia Huffman said the officers’ actions are being investigated by the prosecutor’s office and internally. According to her, the police officer had to make a decision in a split second. “These events happen in seconds, but the trauma is long-lasting,” Huffman said. She expressed regret at the young man’s death and spoke of a “sobering moment”.
According to official information, the man died from multiple gunshot wounds. The search warrant was in connection with investigations into a murder case. The name of the 22-year-old was not mentioned in it, it said. It remained unclear to what extent he was connected to these investigations. In downtown Minneapolis on Friday night, a group of protesters called for the shooter to be fired. Civil rights activists criticized the way the search was carried out.
Fall brings back memories
The case is reminiscent of the killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville (Kentucky state) in March 2020. At that time, the police broke down the apartment door based on a search warrant, apparently without warning. The 26-year-old paramedic died from multiple bullets. One should have learned from the Taylor case that such orders would have deadly consequences for innocent, law-abiding black citizens, the New York Times quoted Ben Crump, the 22-year-old’s family lawyer. In Minneapolis, the execution of such search warrants has only been permitted under urgent circumstances since the fall of 2020.
Almost two years after the death of George Floyd, distrust in the Minneapolis police is being reignited, US media wrote. The unarmed black man was killed in a brutal police operation on May 25, 2020. Videos of passers-by documented how police officers pushed him to the ground. White officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for a good nine minutes while Floyd pleaded with him to let him breathe. Chauvin has since been sentenced to 22 years and six months in prison.