Minneapolis police arrest two in shooting of Black Lives Matter protesters

One of the Black Lives Matter protesters who was shot a block from a Minneapolis police precinct has returned to the scene.

Hodges called for a federal investigation into Clark’s fatal shooting the day after he was shot, and met with protesters last week at Minneapolis City Hall. A 26-year-old white man and a 21-year-old white man are now being interviewed by investigators. When protesters tried to herd the group away, Noor said at a press conference that they “opened fire on about six protesters”, hitting five of them. Henry Habu, a nearby resident claimed he was present during the shooting, in which three men and a woman in ski masks filmed the demonstration.

Police have two men they believe are responsible for shooting protesters in custody.

The protesters were shot after they confronted several people near the north side police precinct that has been the site of demonstrations since police fatally shot 24-year-old Jamar Clark.

Clark died in what police say was a scuffle that came about as they responded to an assault in which he was a suspect. Police said Tuesday morning that they had arrested two men. Kandace Montgomery, a spokeswoman for the group, said the shooting has not shaken its resolve.

Clark’s brother, Eddie Sutton, released a statement after protesters were shot late Monday.

“Do you know if the BLM n*****s are planning to protest again tomorrow, and if so, at what time?” one white supremacist asked in an email chain. But I just haven’t been able to piece together enough information to say with any real clarity’. She says protesters respect the family’s wishes but aren’t going anywhere “until we get justice for Jamar Clark”.

He declined to say whether the FBI was investigating the shooting as a possible hate crime.

In the wake of the shootings, Clark’s family asked for protesters to end the encampment out of safety concerns, and U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison said it would be wise to “start thinking about an exit strategy” and what to do next.

The FBI confirmed they are “coordinating with the Minneapolis Police Department and participating in a review of the incident to determine if further federal action is necessary”, according to a statement from FBI Minneapolis spokesman Kyle Loven. All of their injuries are non-life threatening, police say.

Police reported that they heard “the sound of multiple shots fired in the area” one block north of the Minneapolis Police Department’s Fourth Precinct, in a statement early Tuesday.

The attack has been labelled a “hate crime” by Black Lives Matters spokeswoman Misky Noor, but police are understood to still be debating whether to treat it as such. Police said Clark had been shot while trying to wrest control of an officer’s gun; members of Black Lives Matter insisted that he had been handcuffed and unarmed at the time he was shot. A video produced by a journalist at the scene revealed people running and screaming for an ambulance while a young African American man can be seen on the ground in pain presumably from a gunshot wound.

Belton said the vigil should end to “restore order” to the community, which he said has endured open gunfire, traffic and service interruptions, smoke from the protesters’ fires and hours of helicopter noise. People were still set up near the 4th Precinct, 1925 Plymouth Ave.