Friday, March 29, 2024

Fatal Police Shooting of Black Man in Minneapolis Sparks Protests

Facebook/Thurman Blevins
Facebook/Thurman Blevins

*Hundreds of protesters gathered in Minneapolis on Sunday (June 24) in the wake of Saturday night’s fatal police shooting of 31-year-old Thurman Blevins Jr., a black man whom police say was firing a gun into the air and into the ground while walking down the street. Witnesses, however, say Blevins was holding a bottle, not a firearm.

According to the Star Tribune, Minneapolis Police responded after an anonymous 911 caller at 5:26 p.m. local time told authorities a man was walking around firing a handgun, police said in a statement, adding: “That caller provided a very detailed description of the suspect and his clothing.”

A second call to 911 said the suspect was shooting a silver 9-millimeter handgun, police said.

Officers said they fired on the man following a foot chase. The suspect, later identified as Blevins, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police say a handgun was recovered at the scene, but several witnesses said Blevins was carrying a bottle or cup and that they did not see a gun before he was fatally shot about 6 p.m. Saturday in the alley between Aldrich and Bryant avenues N. near 47th Avenue N.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, per protocol, is investigating the incident.

GalleryGallery: Thurman Blevins' brother Manuel Moore, left, escorted his father Thurman Moore after a protest and rally Sunday at the Minneapolis' Fourth Precinct.
GalleryGallery: Thurman Blevins’ brother Manuel Moore, left, escorted his father Thurman Moore after a protest and rally Sunday at the Minneapolis’ Fourth Precinct.

Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, who appeared at an afternoon protest at the Fourth Precinct headquarters that drew about 300 people, and Mayor Jacob Frey, who attended an evening vigil near the shooting site that drew about 250, struggled to console and calm community members.

The two vowed that the investigation would be full, fair and transparent, stressing that the officers involved were wearing body cameras, and that the footage may hold some of the answers community members are demanding.

Mayor Frey said in a statement he hoped to “offer words that can help ease the pain that people in every neighborhood of our city feel tonight. But at the same time, I must recognize that whatever words I come up with will fall short of that goal.”

“Too many times,” he added, “people from across Minneapolis and the Twin Cities have been stung by the pain of a life lost in the course of an encounter with law enforcement. Regardless of what happened tonight — the historical trauma inflicted on communities of color is never far from nearly every facet of our lives.”

At the vigil, Frey walked away when a speaker took him to task for saying that Blevins had a gun. Several people then followed him, yelling, and a subsequent speaker referred to “fake politicians.”

Leslie Badue, president of the Minneapolis NAACP, and others, including 10 City Council members, called for swift release of the bodycam footage.

At Sunday afternoon’s protest, Rashaun Brown, Blevins’ cousin, said his family had just experienced another tragedy — the death of Blevins’ half-sister, Tanisha Willis, 46, who died of liver problems. Just blocks away from the protest, family and friends were gathered at a repast for Willis.

“The biggest thing is justice. We want the truth. Nobody’s perfect, but he didn’t deserve to go out like that,” Brown said. “It really hurts. The biggest thing is, how do we explain this to his children?”

Blevins was the father of three daughters and two stepsons, he said. Junior, or Jun, as they called Blevins, was “funny, humble and motivational,” Brown said.

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