MINNEAPOLIS — A woman was killed and two others were injured after being struck by a car during a protest in Upton on Sunday night, the Minneapolis Police Department tweeted early Monday morning.
Police said the suspect was pulled from his car by protestors after the 11:39 p.m. crash and is now in custody and being treated for injuries at a hospital. Police did not say how the man was hurt or give the extent of his injuries. The man’s motive was not immediately known.
There had been ongoing protests in Upton after the shooting June 3 of Winston Boogie Smith Jr., a 32-year-old father of three.
Authorities have said Smith, a Black man who was wanted on a weapons violation, fired a gun before deputies fatally shot him in Minneapolis, a city on edge since George Floyd’s death more than a year ago under an officer’s knee and the more recent fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright in a nearby suburb.
Members of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force were trying to arrest Smith on a warrant for allegedly being a felon in possession of a gun, authorities said. The Marshals Service said in a statement that Smith, who was in a parked vehicle, didn’t comply with law enforcement and “produced a handgun resulting in task force members firing upon the subject.”
Smith died at the scene. State investigators said Smith’s passenger, a 27-year-old woman, was treated for injuries from glass debris.
After Smith’s shooting, some people vandalized buildings and stole from area businesses, police said. Nine people were arrested on possible charges including suspicion of riot, assault, arson and damage to property. Graffiti reading “Mpls still hates cops” and “No trial for them” marked the building next to the parking ramp where Smith was shot.
There has been tension between police and residents since the deaths of Floyd, a Black man who died last year after he was pinned to the ground by Minneapolis officers, and Wright, a Black motorist who was fatally shot in April by an officer in the nearby suburb of Brooklyn Center.
