Minneapolis mayor requests federal probe of police shooting

Police have said the man who was shot was the suspect of an assault and was interfering when paramedics were aiding the victim.

Members of Black Lives Matter Minneapolis, Minneapolis NAACP and Community United Against Police Brutality were among those demonstrating. According to family members, however, a physician had told them that Clark is now brain dead.

Activists in an encampment kept up their presence Monday by blocking the main entrance to the Police Department’s precinct headquarters in north Minneapolis and occupying the atrium in the wake of the shooting. Police did not immediately provide more information about the shooting and a representative from the criminal apprehension bureau did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The group gained prominence after the police shooting of a black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.

Protesters gathered Monday outside a north Minneapolis police precinct near the site where officers shot a black man. Pounding drums and shouting “Prosecute the police”, they demanded to be let inside. “Each and every one of us out here would be held accountable if we murdered someone”, she added. Sunday night, Harteau and Hodges said they last heard he was being treated at the hospital.

Critics demanded, and got an independent investigation of the latest incident in Minneapolis, a shift in the recent debate over whether the city’s police should investigate its own officers. Police Chief Janee Harteau said the officers were not wearing body cameras, but declined to say whether squad auto or surveillance video was available, citing the ongoing investigation. That is a standard protocol. “We don’t know the timeline of the investigation; it will be as expeditious and thorough as possible and the investigators will follow the facts wherever they lead”. She said these types of investigations take time, and it’s hard to predict when authorities will have answers.

Clark’s family says he has died, but police are not confirming that yet. When police arrived and started rerouting traffic off the interstate and unto secondary roads, protesters tried to block that action as well, forming a human chain across the detour.

“The young man was just laying there; he was not resisting arrest”. “When they cuffed him, they cuffed him hand in hand and they slapped that man down…. F you.’ And there was the bullet”.

Witnesses said that officers pushed the increasingly agitated crowd back toward the Elks Lodge across the street and that several people were pepper-sprayed.

The meeting fell apart a short time later after people were drowned out by yells of “Justice for who? Jamar!” according to the Star Tribune. The BCA has the footage, and its investigations typically take 2-4 months, said commissioner Mona Dohman.

That sparked protests nationwide about the police use of excessive force against African Americans.

At a few point, an officer fired at least once, hitting the man, police said.

“We are not here for show and tell”.

Another neighbor posted her account on Facebook. Authorities said he had threatened retreating officers with a military-style knife before being fatally shot. “We need to know the truth”, Harteau said.