This story has been updated.
For the second night in a row, shots were fired at Black Lives Matter protesters in Minneapolis close to midnight Tuesday. Unlike the prior shooting, no one was injured in the most recent shooting and one arrest has been made thus far.
Masked gunmen shot five Black Lives Matter protesters who were demonstrating against police abuse about a block from a Minneapolis police precinct Monday night.
Two of the shooters have been arrested so far. A 23-year-old white male and a 32-year-old Hispanic man were caught around noon on Tuesday. Additionally, a 21-year-old and 26-year-old have turned themselves into police custody.
Mayor Betsy Hodges said,
” We are sparing no efforts to bring any and all those responsible to justice”
Activists said the shooters were white supremacists wearing ski masks and bulletproof vests who were yelling racial slurs at them before shooting at least eight bullets into the crowd.
The shooting took place around 10:45 p.m. and as of early Tuesday morning, the five activists who were shot are not suffering from life threatening injuries, having been shot in the arms and legs. All victims are in stable condition.
Police reported a large amount of blood at the scene, which is about a block from Precinct 4 where the protesters had been staged for more than a week since the shooting death of Jamal Clark, a 24-year-unarmed man.
At least two victims from Monday’s shooting were transported to the hospital. The others were treated at the scene.
The shooters were seen carrying pistols and a black 9 mm gun. The suspect vehicle is described by police as a silver SUV. Police have retrieved shell casings and other evidence from the scene.
Before the Monday night shooting, police clashed with protesters pepper spraying and shooting rubber bullets at them.
When the gunmen continued to berate the activists with racial slurs, the group crowded around them to disperse them, which was when they opened fire.
Nekima Levy-Pounds, who is president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP, said she was “appalled that white supremacists would open fire on nonviolent, peaceful protesters.”
The protesters were planning on camping out at the police precinct until video footage of the Jamar Clark shooting was released.
Witnesses say Clark was handcuffed when he was shot, but police say he was not handcuffed. A few days after his shooting, the police union head claimed Clark had tried to grab the cop’s gun.
The family of Jamar Clark released the following statement amend the supremacist shooting:
“In light of tonight’s shootings, the family feels out of imminent concern for the safety of the occupiers, we must get the occupation of the 4th Precinct ended and onto a next step.”
Last week, a pair of white men wearing masks and military fatigues recorded themselves in a car as they were driving to the ongoing protest. The driver pulls out a gun, which makes the second man seem surprised, although it is not clear if he was genuinely surprised or just acting surprised.
The driver then begins speaking:
“Apparently, fighting police and fighting paramedics is good enough to let you off with a slap on the wrist, especially when you go for an officer’s weapon, so yeah, a little reverse cultural enrichment.”
The driver finishes off the video by saying, “we’ll catch you all later. Stay white.”
There has been no solid confirmation that these two men were involved in Monday night’s shooting, but it won’t be a surprise if they are involved.
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton said he viewed video recorded from inside an ambulance and said it was inconclusive but there might be other videos out there, including from a nearby surveillance camera.
The three videos below include Black Lives Matter speaking about the shooting minutes after it happened; the two white men in fatigues driving to the protest last week; and Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton speaking about the video. Also, you can listen to audio of the dispatch response here.
