Biden says there is no justification for looting in Minneapolis after black man Daunte Wright was shot and killed by a cop who mistook her gun for a taser
- President Joe Biden said there was ‘absolutely no justification for violence’ in Minneapolis after black man Daunte Wright was killed by a police officer
- ‘Peaceful protest is understandable,’ Biden said in the Oval Office Monday. ‘But that does not justify violence’
- 20-year-old Wright was shot and killed by a female police officer who her police chief said mistook her gun for a taser
- Biden told reporters he watched the ‘fairly graphic’ bodycam video of Wright being shot
- The killing set off a round of protests as Minneapolis braces for the outcome of Derek Chauvin’s trial, the officer accused of killing George Floyd
President Joe Biden said Monday there was no justification for violence in Minneapolis after black man Daunte Wright was shot and killed by a police officer who mistook her gun for a taser.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office Biden said there was ‘absolutely no justification for violence’ in the aftermath of Wright’s Sunday death.
‘Peaceful protest is understandable. And the fact is that we do know that the anger, pain and trauma that exists in the black community in that environment is real, serious and consequential,’ Biden said. ‘But that does not justify violence.’
President Joe Biden said Monday that there was no justification for violence in Minneapolis after 20-year-old Daunte Wright was shot and killed by a police officer on Sunday
20-year-old Daunte Wright was shot and killed Sunday by a female police officer who the chief of police Monday said mistook her gun for a taser
A line of protesters gather outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department on Monday after the killing of Duante Wright
The comments echoed what Biden said on the campaign trail, as former President Donald Trump tried to make the election about Black Lives versus Blue Lives Matter.
The president also revealed that he had watched the ‘fairly graphic’ body camera footage of Wright being shot.
‘The question is whether it was an accident or intentional? That remains to be determined,’ Biden said.
The president said he hadn’t spoken to members of Wright’s family yet.
‘We should listen to Daunte’s mom, who is calling for peace and calm,’ Biden said.
Protesters and law enforcement clashed Sunday night, with the state calling up the National Guard.
When asked if he expected the country to be on ‘razor’s edge’ over this latest killing of a black man by a police officer, the president said he wasn’t going to speculate now.
‘I’m hopeful that there will be an outcome that will be supported by the vast majority of people in the region and that is my expectation,’ Biden said.
Federal resources were already going to the area in anticipation of the end of Derek Chauvin’s trial.
Chauvin is on trial for the Memorial Day 2020 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which reignited the mass Black Lives Matter demonstrations last summer.
On Monday, the police chief for Minneapolis’ Brooklyn Center, the suburb where the shooting occurred, explained that a senior female police officer seemingly pulled out her gun instead of her taser, killing 20-year-old Wright.
‘This was an accidental discharge that resulted in a tragic death of Mr Wright,’ said Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon.
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