Outrage and little clarity in Minneapolis after black man is shot by police

Protests erupted in Minneapolis after police say they shot a black man who allegedly tried to interfere with paramedics on Nov. 12.
Protests erupted in Minneapolis after police say they shot a black man who allegedly tried to interfere with paramedics on Nov. 12. Witnesses and activists are demanding more details from police, while the man remains on life support. (AP)
A young black man was shot by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minn., early Sunday morning.

On that much, police and the protesters who marched through the streets of Minneapolis Sunday agree. But on other, crucial points — Was the man handcuffed when he was shot? Is he even still alive? — there is little consensus or clarity.

Minneapolis Deputy Police Chief Bruce Folkens said at a news conference that police were called to the scene of an assault around 12:45 a.m. Sunday. En route, they learned that the suspect was interfering with paramedics’ efforts to treat his victim. When officers arrived, they got into a “physical altercation” with the suspect, who was not in handcuffs. One officer fired his weapon at some point during the struggle; the suspect, who they have not named, was hit and taken to a local hospital.

Activists and witnesses at the scene tell a different story.

Protesters marched down Plymouth Ave. N to the Minneapolis 4th Precinct. Neighbors and community members gathered at the scene where a man was shot and wounded by a Minneapolis Police officer early Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015.  (Mark Vancleave/Star Tribune via AP)
Multiple people who saw the shooting say that the suspect was not resisting police and was in handcuffs when he was shot in the head. Speaking to local TV station KTSP, family members identified him as 24-year-old Jamar Clark. State representative Raymond Dehn (D), who represents the district where Clark was shot, tweeted that the young man was on life support. His family said he is brain dead.

“Jamar Clark was murdered, execution style,” read a statement from the Minneapolis-St Paul Chapter of the NAACP that was posted to the organization’s Facebook page Sunday.

Source: AP