Police released bodycam footage showing the fatal police shooting in a Minneapolis suburb that left a 20-year-old dead, with police saying the officer meant to grab her taser.
Video footage shows an unidentified officer attempting to handcuff Daunte Wright. Another officer approaches and appears to begin to assist the officer.
“Don’t do it,” one officer can be heard telling Wright as he attempts to handcuff him.
Warning: Graphic footage, including the shooting
Here’s the body camera footage of the killing of Daunte Wright that was just released. pic.twitter.com/A2X8qS8ZFH
— The Recount (@therecount) April 12, 2021
Wright can be seen in the video trying to break loose and he eventually jumps back into his car. As one officer continues to try to apprehend Wright, now from the driver’s seat of Wright’s car, another officer — whose body camera the footage appears to be from — screams that she would tase Wright.
“I’ll tase you! I’ll tase you!”
“Taser! Taser! Taser! Taser!”
The officer then appears to fire a single shot into Wright’s midsection before Wright drives off.
“I just shot him,” the officer can be heard saying in the video, in apparent disbelief.
Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon told reporters during a press conference Monday the officer meant to draw her taser but instead drew her firearm.
“It is my belief that the officer had the intention to employ their taser, but instead shot Mr. Wright with a single bullet.”
Brooklyn Center, MN Police Chief Tim Gannon calls Daunte Wright’s killing an “accidental discharge.”
He says: “It is my belief that the officer had the intention to employ their taser, but instead shot Mr. Wright with a single bullet.” pic.twitter.com/pEFmc1tOh2
— The Recount (@therecount) April 12, 2021
Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon tells media his officer intended to draw her taser during arrest, but instead drew her service weapon and fired a single fatal shot.
“It appears to me this was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Wright.”— Liz Sawyer (@ByLizSawyer) April 12, 2021
Authorities said Wright was pulled over for having an expired registration and officers then determined he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest, according to the Associated Press. After Wright was shot, he drove several blocks before crashing, according to the report.
Records show Wright was wanted after he failed to appear in court on charges he fled from an officer and had an illegal gun during a June encounter with Minneapolis police, according to the AP. (RELATED: Newly Released Footage Shows Officer Gunned Down With Rifle During Traffic Stop)
Protests erupted Sunday night and lasted through early Monday morning. Protesters threw rocks and other objects at police at the Brooklyn Center Police Department and at least 20 businesses were looted.
Wright’s mother Katie Wright condemned the violence, according to the AP.
“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. 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.”
An investigation remains ongoing.