Two Minnesota National Guardsmen have been injured following a drive-by shooting that occurred in Minneapolis during the early morning hours Sunday.
MINNEAPOLIS CITY COUNCIL MOVES TOWARD UNARMED TRAFFIC ENFORCERS AFTER DAUNTE WRIGHT SHOOTING
According to Minnesota National Guard spokesman Liutenant Colonel Scott Hawks, a team of Minnesota National Guardsmen and Minneapolis police officers were fired at by a light colored SUV at around 4:15 a.m. as they provided neighborhood security near Penn Avenue and Broadway.
Hawkins noted that one National Guard member was taken to a local hospital to receive treatment for lacerations from shattered glass, while the other was left with “superficial injuries.”
“I am relieved to know none of our Guardsmen were seriously injured,” Major General Shawn Manke, the Adjutant General of the Minnesota National Guard, said in a statement. “This event highlights the volatility and tension in our communities right now. I ask for peace as we work through this difficult time.”
The Minnesota National Guard has been activated in the area as part of Operation Safety Net, a joint effort between the Minneapolis Police Department, Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, the State of Minnesota and local jurisdictions in order to protect people, freedom of speech and property during the Derek Chauvin trial and aftermath of the police involved shooting of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center during a traffic stop.
In the wake of Wright’s death, the Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously on Friday for the development of a new Traffic Safety Division.
Councilmember Phillipe Cunningham outlined a staff directive regarding the proposed development in a document obtained by KMSP, the Fox-owned TV station in Minneapolis and posted on his social media account.
The document listed four goals of the new traffic enforcement division: Maximizing the traffic safety benefits of traffic enforcement, eliminating racial disparities in traffic enforcement, educating the public on safe driving behaviors and traffic laws, and earning the trust of communities harmed by earlier practices.
We urgently need traffic safety in our community,” Cunningham said Friday in a Facebook post announcing the proposal. “We also need for increasing traffic safety to not come at a great cost of harm to our neighbors in the process. This issue is very complex, but it is surmountable.”
Staff from the Office of Performance and Innovation have to report back to the Public Health and Safety Committee with a project timeline for the new division by the end of the second quarter this year, according to the document.
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Another high-profile case that has contributed to protests over the weekend is the death of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, who was fatally wounded by an officer responding to a report of shots fired in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago back in March.
Cook County prosecutor James Murphy was placed on paid leave Friday for failing to mention in a statement that Toledo had dropped a handgun he was holding before being shot by a Chicago police officer.
Fox News’ Stephen Sorace contributed to this report