BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — Warning: This body camera footage is graphic. If you or someone you know have been affected by the content of recent broadcasts and are looking for mental health resources, contact the National Alliance on Mental Illness. NAMI provides guidance to those who are trying to navigate the mental health system. Please know you are not alone.
Officer Kim Potter has been identified by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension as the Brooklyn Center police officer who shot and killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright Sunday afternoon during a traffic stop.
During a press conference Monday, Brooklyn Center police Chief Tim Gannon said Potter is currently on administrative leave.
Potter is a 26-year veteran of the Brooklyn Center police force, and as recently as 2019 she served as the police union president for the department.
The BCA investigation is still ongoing, and officials did not release any further information about Potter.
KARE 11 reporter and anchor Lauren Leamanczyk spoke with Washington County Attorney Pete Orput Monday night, who is handling the case. Orput plans to meet with the BCA Tuesday morning and also wants to meet with the Wright family.
Orput said he'll make a charging decision as quickly as possible, likely within days.
Daunte Wright, a Black man, was pulled over just before 2 p.m. Sunday, April 11 for having expired tabs on his license plate, according to Brooklyn Center police, when officers realized he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest.
Officers attempted to take Wright into custody, but he re-entered the car and police body camera shows Potter, a white officer, pull her gun and shoot once. According to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, Wright died from a gunshot wound to his chest.
Brooklyn Center police released that bodycam video Monday. You can read more about the video's contents and watch parts of it here.
In the video, Potter can be heard yelling, "I'll tase you," as Wright attempted to re-enter the vehicle. According to Gannon, it's part of the officer's training to notify fellow officers on scene, as well as the subject, that the officer will be using a Taser.
The body camera footage captures Potter raise her gun, and fire one shot at Wright. After the shot was fired, the car drove off and Potter can be heard immediately telling the officers on the scene, "I just shot him."
Wright's death has prompted protests, demonstrations and unrest in Brooklyn Center and parts of Minneapolis. Monday night hundreds of people gathered outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department even after a 7 p.m. curfew went into effect. That curfew, ordered for the Twin Cities metro area by Governor Tim Walz, expires at 6 a.m. Tuesday.
