Evidence shows suspect fatally shot by law enforcement in Minneapolis fired gun, investigators say

By Carma Hassan, Kara Devlin and Amanda Watts, CNN

The agency investigating the fatal shooting of a suspect during an arrest attempt in Minneapolis Thursday says evidence shows “the man fired his weapon from inside the vehicle.”

While trying to arrest a person wanted on a felony warrant in a parked car on Thursday afternoon, US Marshals task force members shot the suspect, who had “produced a handgun” and “failed to comply with officers’ commands,” the US Marshals Service said in a prepared statement obtained by CNN affiliate WCCO.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene. A 27-year-old woman who was a passenger in the car sustained minor injuries from glass debris, authorities said.

“BCA crime scene personnel recovered a handgun as well as spent cartridge cases from inside the driver’s compartment,” the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) said in a statement. The man has not been identified.

BCA said that “at one point a Hennepin County sheriff’s deputy and a Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy serving on the task force discharged their weapons, striking the man.”

The suspect had been wanted on a state arrest warrant for possession of a firearm by a felon, according to the Marshals Service.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office will identify him “once the preliminary autopsy, formal identification and family notifications have taken place,” the BCA said.

There is no body camera or squad car camera footage of the shooting, which is in the early stages of investigation, the BCA said.

The shooting led to protests in Minneapolis’ Uptown area during the evening and overnight.

People began gathering at the scene to watch investigators, and some people began chanting “insults at Minneapolis police, whose officers were providing perimeter support,” the Star Tribune reported.

Most dispersed by early evening, but a crowd returned after 9:15 p.m., not long after investigators left, WCCO reported. People dragged a trash container into an intersection and set it on fire, and pulled down crime scene tape, according to WCCO.

Video from the station shows exterior glass broken at a nearby CVS store Thursday night.

Buildings were looted and damaged, Minneapolis police said early Friday in a brief advisory, without elaborating.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Friday that while tensions are high local jurisdictions are in charge and resources from the National Guard are not necessary to deploy at this time.

The law enforcement shooting comes as the city grapples with last year’s killing of George Floyd during his arrest in Minneapolis last year, and with the murder conviction in that case of former police officer Derek Chauvin.

On Thursday, Minneapolis city workers removed parts of a memorial at the intersection where Floyd took his final breaths, as the city stated its plans to create a permanent memorial and reopen the area to through-traffic.

The intersection where Floyd died — Chicago Avenue and 38th Street — is about a 3-mile drive southeast of where Thursday’s shooting happened.

Shortly after the removal of the Floyd memorial, some activists blocked the intersection.

At a press conference, Mayor Jacob Frey said the city workers’ efforts were just the first step in a “phased reconnection” of the Chicago Avenue/38th Street intersection, and he acknowledged that it will be some time before the intersection is open to traffic for good.

CNN’s Jason Hanna, Alta Spells, Natalie Andes and Travis Caldwell contributed to this report.