Police: Minnesota officer meant to draw Taser, not handgun

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (AP) – Police in a Minneapolis suburb where a Black man was fatally shot during a traffic stop say the officer who fired intended to use a Taser, not a handgun.

Police Chief Tim Gannon described the shooting as “an accidental discharge.”

The man identified by relatives as 20-year-old Daunte Wright died Sunday in Brooklyn Center, a city of about 30,000 people on the northwest border of Minneapolis. His death sparked violent protests, with officers in riot gear clashing with demonstrators into Monday morning.

The Minneapolis area was already on edge because of the trial of the first of four police officers charged in George Floyd’s death.

Speaking before the unrest, Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, urged protesters to stay peaceful and focused on the loss of her son.

“All the violence, if it keeps going, it’s only going to be about the violence. We need it to be about why my son got shot for no reason,” she said to a crowd near the shooting scene in Brooklyn Center.

“We need to make sure it’s about him and not about smashing police cars, because that’s not going to bring my son back.”

Protesters who gathered near the scene waved flags and signs reading “Black Lives Matter.” Others walked peacefully with their hands held up. On one street, someone wrote in multi-colored chalk: “Justice for Daunte Wright.”

Officers stopped a motorist shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday for an unspecified traffic violation, police said in a statement. Authorities planned to provide an update later Monday.

Katie Wright said her son called her as he was getting pulled over.

“All he did was have air fresheners in the car, and they told him to get out of the car,” Wright said.

During the call, she said she heard scuffling and then someone saying “Daunte, don’t run” before the call ended. When she called back, her son’s girlfriend answered and said he had been shot.

After determining the driver had an outstanding warrant, police said they tried to arrest him. Then the driver re-entered the vehicle, and an officer fired, striking him, police said. The vehicle traveled several blocks before striking another vehicle.

Wright’s family offered a different account, with Katie Wright saying her son was shot before getting back into the car.

A female passenger sustained non-life-threatening injuries during the crash, authorities said. Katie Wright said that passenger was her son’s girlfriend.

Court records show Wright was being sought after failing to appear in court on charges that he fled from officers and possessed a gun without a permit during an encounter with Minneapolis police in June. In that case, a statement of probable cause said police got a call about a man waving a gun who was later identified as Wright.”