Skip to main content

Biden Speaks On Killing Of 20-year-old Black Man By Police In Minnesota

 


Wright was shot about 14 miles north of where George Floyd, another black man was killed last year.

The United States President, Joe Biden, has said the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright in Minnesota, by the police, does not justify violence or looting while calling for 'peace and calm'.

Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by a female police officer on Sunday afternoon, during a traffic stop in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center.

An officer's body camera footage released on Monday indicated that Wright got out of his car, but then got back in.

Investigations are still ongoing but Brooklyn Center Police Chief, Tim Gannon said it appeared from the video that Wright was trying to leave the scene.

Gannon also said that the video appeared to show an officer had shouted "Taser!" but fired her handgun accidentally, killing Daunte Wright.

According to Wright's mother, who had spoken to her son before the shooting, he was pulled over for having an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror, which is illegal in Minnesota. Police said Monday that he was stopped for a traffic violation.

Brooklyn Center Police Chief, Gannon said he believes, based on the body camera video, that the officer who shot Wright mistakenly believed she was firing a Taser and not her gun.

Wright was shot about 14 miles north of where George Floyd, another black man was killed last year. 

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is on trial charged with second-and third-degree murder. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Biden wrote: "Today I’m thinking about Daunte Wright and his family and the pain, anger, and trauma that Black America experiences every day. While we await a full investigation, we

know what we need to do to move forward: rebuild trust and ensure accountability so no one is above the law."

Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office about Wright's death on Sunday, President Biden said: "I haven't called Daunte Wright's family, but my prayers are with the family. It's really a tragic thing that happened.

The question is was it an accident? Was it intentional? That remains to be determined by a full-blown investigation," he said, describing the body camera video of the shooting as "fairly graphic."

Biden called for any protests against Wright's shooting to remain "peaceful."

He said: "There is absolutely no justification, none, for looting, no justification for violence. Peaceful protests, understandable, and the fact is that, you know, we do know that the anger, pain, and trauma that exists in the Black community in that environment is real, it's serious and it's consequential. But it will not justify violence and/or looting. And we should listen to Daunte's mum, who is calling for peace and calm."

Asked whether he would deploy federal resources to help keep the peace, Biden noted that he had already done so because of Chauvin's trial.

"There are already federal resources," Biden said. "There will not be a lack of help and support from the federal government if the local authorities believe it's needed."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

EndSARS: Protesters In New York Want SARS Operatives Sacked

 Hundreds of young anti-SARS protesters on Sunday stormed the Nigeria House in New York demanding transparency in the disbandment of the police unit back home. The protesters said operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad found wanting should be sacked and not redeployed. Among them was Stephen “Papi” Ojo, the artist, model, and choreographer who stole the show as the ‘blue-guy’ in Beyoncé’s “Already” music video. The protest started shortly after the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, announced the dissolution of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad. Adamu also announced plans for a new arrangement to address anticipated policing gaps following the disbandment, and the constitution of an investigative team to probe the alleged cases of rights violations, among others. But the protesters, who bore placards with different inscriptions including, “We no want audio ban”, said they were not buying it. They argued that previous commitments announced by the force to change...

Open grazing ban in South irreversible, Akeredolu replies Malami

  The Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has tackled the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Shehu Malami, for faulting the ban placed on open grazing in the Southern part of the country. The Southern Governors had at a meeting in Asaba last week banned open grazing and asked the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to address the nation over the increasing rate of insecurity in the country. However, Malami who appeared as a guest on Channels Television on Wednesday faulted the ban, arguing that the governor had no right to do that. Akeredolu, who is the Chairman of Southern Governors’ Forum, spoke in a statement he personally signed on Thursday, titled, ‘ Our decision is irreversible and will be enforced ’. He asked the AGF to challenge the governor’s position on open grazing in court, adding that Malami’s comments were “ unfortunate and wicked ”. Part of the statement read, “I have just read the press statement credited to the Attorney...

Biden Announces Purchase Of 200M Vaccine Doses

  President Joe Biden announced a series of measures on Tuesday aimed at ramping up coronavirus vaccine allocation and distribution, including the purchase of 200 million more vaccine doses and increased distribution to states by millions of doses next week. With those additional doses, Biden said there would be enough to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans -- nearly the entire US population -- by the end of summer or early fall. He described efforts to combat Covid-19 as a "wartime undertaking." We now have a national strategy to beat Covid-19. It's comprehensive. It's based on science, not politics. It's based on truth, not denial, and it is detailed," he said. As part of the new efforts announced Tuesday, the US will buy 100 million more doses from Pfizer/BioNTech and 100 million more from Moderna -- the two-dose vaccines that have been granted emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration. Pfizer and Moderna are working to step up p...