Amelia Huffman, the interim chief of police with the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), notified a local Black Lives Matter activist about an officer-involved shooting that left an African American man dead on Wednesday morning.
“Friends, I got a call from the Interim Chief of MPD, Amelia Huffman, letting me know there was a shooting by Minneapolis Police that happened in downtown Minneapolis around 7am,” a Facebook post from Nekima Levy Armstrong reads.
The man who was killed was initially reported to be a Somali man, but was later confirmed that the suspect was African American.
The shooting took place while Minneapolis and St. Paul police were executing a search warrant on a murder suspect at Bolero Flats in Minneapolis, Crime Watch Minneapolis reported.
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The latest on officer involved shooting #DTMPLS before 7a, inside Bolero Flats, 11th/Marquette.
-Occurred while a warrant was being executed on a St Paul murder suspect.
-Officers loudly announced entry.
-9 seconds after entering, police were confronted by a male with a gun. pic.twitter.com/NDjgeHLn1q— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) February 2, 2022
According to a press conference held by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Huffman, the shooting took place approximately nine seconds after police officers entered the apartment when they were confronted by a man with a gun.
Armstrong, a Black Lives Matter activist and the former president of the Minneapolis chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), organized a vigil for the suspect that was held on Wednesday night in Minneapolis. Armstrong had been instrumental in other protests for George Floyd and Daunte Wright and others.
During the Wednesday night vigil, Armstrong said she was calling upon the police departments of Minneapolis and St. Paul to be transparent and release requested information regarding the shooting to the public.
“We have no information from [the St. Paul police] about what this warrant even consisted of and why it was so urgent to bust into somebody’s apartment in the wee hours of the morning,” Armstrong said.
She said in a Facebook post, “The young man who was killed is named Amir. He is Black and was under 25-years-old. His family and the community deserves answers regarding why he was killed.” She also shared a hashtag, #JusticeForAmir.
The MPD did not respond to The Minnesota Sun’s request for comment regarding Huffman’s actions following the officer-involved shooting.
Minneapolis City Council member Jamal Osman tweeted out, “How disrespectful the Intern Chief of MPD to call an activist instead of the only Somali Council Member about the MPD involved shooting this morning.”
https://twitter.com/JamalOsmanMN/status/1488917535949045764
The MPD did not respond to The Sun to confirm that contacting activists is normal procedure in officer-involved shootings.
The incident is being investigated by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
BCA agents and crime scene personnel are on the scene of an officer involved shooting incident on Marquette Ave. between 11th and 12th streets in Minneapolis.
— Minnesota BCA (@MnDPS_BCA) February 2, 2022
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Hayley Feland is a reporter with The Minnesota Sun and The Wisconsin Daily Star | Star News Network. Follow Hayley on Twitter or like her Facebook page. Send news tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Bolero Flats” by Bolero Flats.
