Update: November 25, 10:00 a.m. As of Tuesday night, Minneapolis police have three men in custody on suspicion of firing on Black Lives Matter protesters on Monday night, according to NPR. Two white men in their twenties turned themselves in to police, in addition to two men arrested on Tuesday. One man has since been released. The names of the men still in custody are not available; police say they will be released when the men are charged.
Funeral ceremonies for Jamar Clark, the young Black man who died in an altercation with police, will be held Wednesday at noon. The ceremony is open to the public.
Update: 2:20 p.m. Civil-rights group Color of Change has released a statement in the aftermath of the shootings at a Black Lives Matter protest in Minneapolis. The statement, from Executive Director Rashad Robinson, reads in part:
“More than 50 years after the civil-rights movement, Black lives continue to be under attack. Peaceful protesters were gunned down while exercising their first-amendment rights and the police responded by spraying those very protesters with Mace…. Let this be a call to action for every person in America. The hard work of undoing systemic racism and building a country where Black folks are free from both state and vigilante violence, cannot wait. Every presidential candidate has a plan to deal with ISIS but no plan to deal with the homegrown anti-government terrorists and white supremacists who have been responsible for nearly twice as many murders in this country since 9/11. We are calling on all of them to make this a high-priority agenda for their candidacy.”
Update: 2:00 p.m. Minneapolis police say they have arrested a second suspect, a 32-year-old Hispanic man. The Associated Press reports that one white man and one Hispanic man have now been arrested. A third man is still being sought.
Update: 1:30 p.m. According to the Star-Tribune, Minneapolis police have arrested one suspect in the shootings — a 23-year-old white man. The arrest happened in Bloomington, MN, late Tuesday morning. The man’s name has not been released, and authorities are still looking for two more suspects.
This story was originally published on November 24 , 2015.
A peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in Minneapolis was rocked by violence late Monday night, when three armed men shot five people outside a police precinct. The protesters were demonstrating over the killing of an unarmed black man, Jamar Clark, by police earlier this month.
According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, police are weighing whether to treat the shooting as a hate crime because all the victims are Black. A representative of the Black Lives Matter movement, Miski Noor, told the Star-Tribune that “a group of white supremacists showed up at the protest, as they have done most nights.” Three men had been taunting protesters, and when protesters tried to move them away from the demonstration, at least two opened fire.
The Associated Press reported that two people were shot in the leg, one in the arm, and one in the stomach. All of the injuries are non-fatal, and the victims have been hospitalized. Authorities are searching for three white male suspects, who may have been wearing masks. Protests over Clark’s death have been ongoing for days; activists have shut down highways and camped out in front of the city's fourth precinct. Protesters are calling for the release of video surrounding Clark’s death, which police are refusing to do, citing ongoing investigations. The Department of Justice has said it will investigate the incident. On November 15, Clark, a 24-year old Black man, was killed during an altercation with police after authorities were called to a party he was attending. The officers have said that they were called over an assault and arrived to find Clark interfering with paramedics on the scene. What happened next is unclear— there were cameras everywhere, but none caught the full scene, and the officers weren’t wearing body cameras. The head of Minneapolis’ police union told reporters that Clark was reaching for an officer’s gun when he was killed. According to other reports of the incident, witnesses say that Clark was already handcuffed, which the police union disputes.
The Associated Press reported that two people were shot in the leg, one in the arm, and one in the stomach. All of the injuries are non-fatal, and the victims have been hospitalized. Authorities are searching for three white male suspects, who may have been wearing masks. Protests over Clark’s death have been ongoing for days; activists have shut down highways and camped out in front of the city's fourth precinct. Protesters are calling for the release of video surrounding Clark’s death, which police are refusing to do, citing ongoing investigations. The Department of Justice has said it will investigate the incident. On November 15, Clark, a 24-year old Black man, was killed during an altercation with police after authorities were called to a party he was attending. The officers have said that they were called over an assault and arrived to find Clark interfering with paramedics on the scene. What happened next is unclear— there were cameras everywhere, but none caught the full scene, and the officers weren’t wearing body cameras. The head of Minneapolis’ police union told reporters that Clark was reaching for an officer’s gun when he was killed. According to other reports of the incident, witnesses say that Clark was already handcuffed, which the police union disputes.
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