The reason from Gannon got here throughout a information briefing by metropolis leaders and regulation enforcement officers, after the police chie
The reason from Gannon got here throughout a information briefing by metropolis leaders and regulation enforcement officers, after the police chief performed the officer’s physique digital camera footage of her lethal encounter with Wright.
“As I watch the video and take heed to the officer’s instructions, it’s my perception that the officer had the intention to deploy their taser, however as a substitute shot Mr. Wright with a single bullet,” Gannon stated.
“This seems to me, from what I seen and the officer’s response in misery instantly after, that this was an unintentional discharge that resulted in a tragic loss of life of Mr. Wright,” he added.
Biden stated he had seen the “pretty graphic” footage however was reserving judgment concerning the officer’s culpability.
“The query is whether or not it was an accident or intentional,” he stated. “That continues to be to be decided.”
The president stated he had been involved with Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and native officers after the Sunday taking pictures.
Wright’s loss of life has provoked violent protests in Brooklyn Heart and exacerbated neighborhood tensions amid the continuing trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the killing of George Floyd final summer time. Biden, as he has finished beforehand throughout related occasions final 12 months, decried the violence whereas distinguishing it from the remainder of the neighborhood response.
“The very fact is that we do know that the anger, ache and trauma that exists in Black neighborhood in that atmosphere is actual, severe and consequential,” he stated. “However that doesn’t justify violence.”
Walz, a Democrat, stated that Wright’s loss of life underscored the necessity for policing reforms raised after Floyd’s loss of life sparked months of demonstrations throughout the nation.
“Our time was made clear final Might in Minnesota,” Walz stated. “And within the midst of this trial that the world’s watching, the state of affairs repeated itself yesterday. So this can be a name to us once more, to Minnesota and to the remainder of the nation.”
Requested whether or not Wright’s taking pictures can be referred to the Hennepin County Lawyer’s Workplace for potential prices towards the officer, Gannon, Brooklyn Heart’s police chief, stated it was “far too early to know which authority goes to be prosecuting, if there’s a prosecution.”
Though the Minnesota Bureau of Prison Apprehension is investigating the taking pictures, no representatives from the bureau have been current on the briefing Monday, and “the releasing of video this early in a state of affairs is just not one thing that they condone,” Gannon stated.
However Gannon stated he made the choice to launch the physique digital camera footage anyway as a result of “I felt the neighborhood wanted to know what occurred. They wanted to see it. I wanted to be clear. And I wished to be forthright. We needed to do respect to Daunte, as properly.”
In different remarks to reporters, Gannon stated he had not been made conscious of a gun being present in Wright’s automobile, and he refuted hypothesis that the officer concerned within the taking pictures had dedicated suicide.
White Home press secretary Jen Psaki additionally addressed the taking pictures at her briefing Monday, confirming that the administration was in communication with Walz, Brooklyn Heart Mayor Mike Elliott and native regulation enforcement authorities.
“I’d say it’s a reminder of the ache, the anger, the trauma, the exhaustion that many communities throughout the nation have felt as we see these incidents proceed to happen inside just some miles of the place the tragic occasions occurred only a 12 months in the past,” Psaki stated, referring to Floyd’s loss of life in Minneapolis in Might 2020.
Nick Niedzwiadek contributed to this report.