Is Minneapolis having a Ferguson moment?
In the early hours of Sunday morning, a Minneapolis, Minn. police officer shot a young black man, according to local news reports.
Full details surrounding the incident are incomplete, protests have burst across the community following the shooting of whom family members and the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP identify as聽Jamar Clark, age 24.
This has not been confirmed by the police, and the the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has launched an聽independent investigation. The most crucial facts of the case are still contended: Eyewitnesses say the man had been handcuffed and shot in the head while he was lying down. Investigators say otherwise.
Here鈥檚 what we do know about the case: Around 12:45 a.m. Sunday, the police were called to the scene of an assault. Minneapolis deputy police chief Bruce Folkens said at a news conference that they had intel that the suspect was keeping the paramedics from treating the victim.
And then a 鈥減hysical altercation鈥� took place between the paramedics and the suspect, Folkens said. A shot was fired, and the suspect was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center.
The police say he is in critical condition. According to family members, however, a聽physician had told them that聽Clark is now brain dead. One relative told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that
Nekelia Sharp, a neighbor from across the street, said there had been an argument between Clark and his girlfriend, and an ambulance was called. When paramedics were treating the girlfriend, Sharp said, Clark tried to talk to her 鈥� then he was handcuffed and shot.
Another neighbor posted her account on Facebook.
鈥淭here were looking from the apartments,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淭he crowd said that the police already had him down on the ground when they shot him. I heard a shot and got there within seconds. All the witnesses were yelling they shot the man while he was already down and handcuffed.鈥�
As the throng of bystanders lingered at the scene, shouting, police called for backup. Scanner audio from that night indicates that an officer had requested every available squad car. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got a big crowd,鈥� he was heard saying. 鈥淲e need a lot of cops.鈥�
Some witnesses say they were pepper-sprayed.
Minneapolis police chief Jane茅 Harteau said in a press conference Sunday afternoon that preliminary evidence shows that . The two police officers involved in the incident have been put on paid administrative leave.
鈥淚 want to acknowledge this is a very difficult situation for everyone involved,鈥� Harteau said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e spoken with the man鈥檚 family and we鈥檝e reached out to many community leaders.鈥�
鈥淲e need to know exactly what happened,鈥� she continued. 鈥淲e need to know the truth. Everyone involved needs that and deserves that.鈥�
She urged people with information about the incident to come forward and contact the BCA.
In the meantime, hundreds of Black Lives Matter activists protested at the scene of the shooting since 3 p.m. Sunday. from a nearby building and a federal investigation into the incident, the protesters rallied into the evening.
They did not attend a nearby community meeting called by Minneapolis mayor Betsy Hodges at the local Urban League office nearby, though it did not last long as people were yelling 鈥淛ustice for who? Jamar!鈥�
Jason Sole, a professor at Metropolitan State University and a member of the local NAACP chapter, is among the group calling for justice.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been saying for a long time that Minneapolis was one bullet away from Ferguson,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ell, that bullet was fired last night.鈥�
