MINNEAPOLIS — How Minnesota Governor Tim Walz handled the Minneapolis riots following the murder of George Floyd is now under the national microscope, after Vice President Kamala Harris named him as her running mate in the 2024 election.
Former President Donald Trump initially praised Governor Walz's handling of the riots during a June 1, 2020 phone call, but Trump’s campaign is now vilifying it, claiming Walz “allowed Minneapolis to burn for days.”
Here’s a timeline of events from that week and what two investigations concluded regarding local and state leadership following the riots.
Monday, May 25, 2020
Officers responded to a call shortly after 8 p.m. about a possible counterfeit $20 bill being used at a corner store and encountered a Black man, later identified as George Floyd, who officers later handcuffed and placed face-down on the ground.
Officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd's neck for 9 1/2 minutes while bystanders shouted at him to stop. Video showed Floyd repeatedly crying "I can't breathe" before going limp. He's pronounced dead at a hospital.
Tuesday, May 26, 2020
The next day, police issued a statement claiming Floyd died after a "medical incident," and alleged that he physically resisted and appeared to be in medical distress. Minutes later, a bystander video was posted online. Police released another statement saying the FBI would help investigate.
Chauvin and three other officers — Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao — were fired. Protests began.
Hundreds gathered to grieve and protest in the streets of south Minneapolis. Some threw bottles at police and targeted vandalism at the 3rd Precinct police building. Tear gas was deployed by police, and the crowd dispersed at night.
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
On Wednesday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called for criminal charges against Chauvin, leading to protests and unrest in Minneapolis and other cities across the country.
Peaceful protests during the day were overshadowed by violence and looting at night. A Target store was ransacked and looted. An AutoZone and 15 other buildings burned. During the chaos, a man was shot and killed outside a store.
A state senate investigation from October 2020, shows Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called Governor Tim Walz at 6:29 p.m. Wednesday asking to send in the National Guard.
In an interview with KARE 11 the Monday following Floyd’s death, Mayor Frey said, "That second I hung up the phone with chief, and I called the governor and I asked for the National Guard."
This was corroborated by text messages between mayoral staffers.
A screen grab of a text from Frey aide Mychal Vlatkovich, dated 6:28 p.m. on Wednesday, May 27 reads:
"Mayor just came out and said the chief wants him to call in the National Guard for help at Third Precinct. Mayor appears intent on doing, talking w/ Mark."
In another exchange with mayoral staff at 8:05 p.m., someone asks Vlatkovich, "What's happening? As far as the Guard."
He responds, "He said Walz was hesitating."
The mayor's staff went as far as drafting an press release at 9:00 p.m. that same night, announcing that Frey was requesting the National Guard. That release was never sent. According to sources at City Hall, Mayor Frey didn't want to appear like he was using the media to pressure Walz.
At 9:11 that night, Police Chief Medaria Arradondo sent a four-part plan requesting 600 MN National Guard troops to state Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington.
Harrington later said in interviews that the request was too vague.
The governor agreed he got an informal, verbal request from Mayor Frey late Wednesday and a written request on the morning Thursday, May 28.
The governor has consistently said it takes time to deploy citizen-soldiers and a brand-new mission with little advance notice.
"The average person maybe assumes that there’s soldiers waiting in helicopters to drop in like they do in movies," Walz told reporters the next week. "Actually, they’re band teachers and small business owners. They’re folks working in a garage in Fergus Falls who get a call that says you’ve got 12 hours to report to your armory."
Thursday, May 28, 2020
Thursday morning, Walz preemptively told the Guard to get ready.
By 2:30 p.m., through executive action, the governor officially activated the Guard.
The first contingents of troops arrived Thursday in the late afternoon and evening, and took up positions defending the State Capitol, St. Paul Police Department headquarters and the BCA offices. Some units were also assigned to escort firefighters battling blazes set by arsonists.
Major General Jon Jensen, who was at the time Adjutant General of the Minnesota National Guard, say his forces didn't go to the 3rd Precinct immediately on that Thursday, because they were awaiting more specific instructions from the Minneapolis Police Department.
He said the guard members always act in support of local civilian authorities, rather than just picking their own mission.
"It’s very important we know exactly what we’re being asked to do so we make sure we have the right equipment, we mobilize the right number of soldiers and airmen to support those soldiers that are going to conduct the mission," Gen. Jensen told reporters May 29. "We never got such mission assignment. We never got such mission description."
That night, protesters surrounded the Police Third Precinct building. The mayor ordered police to evacuate.
The building was breached and burned. Some officers sent goodbye messages in case they didn’t make it out. Fires and chaos spread for miles.
Friday, May 29, 2020
By Friday morning, the governor publicly blamed the mayor.
“The way this works is the mayors ask, and they take charge and lead on the missions,” said Walz. “If this would have been executed correctly, the state would not lead on this. The state would have supported those (sic) and they would have moved forward. That did not happen.”
In a non-partisan external investigation commissioned by the city of Minneapolis, a law firm eventually found the initial requests from the mayor and the Minneapolis Police Department failed to follow the correct protocol and provide enough detail to trigger the Guard response.
Friday, troops were posted around the city. The governor said the city would not see the rioting the world witnessed in the past 48 hours. But by seven o’clock that night, guard members pulled out of the 3rd Precinct after being surrounded by a crowd. Troops were seen leading fire departments to respond to fires around Minneapolis and St. Paul. It was another night of destruction.
Conclusions
Did the governor delay critical resources? And did it make a difference? These are questions Governor Walz still hasn't clearly addressed.
In the moment, these leaders had to decide how to apply force to a large group of people protesting the abuse of force.
Looking back, two investigations found blame on both local and state leadership.
The state senate report concluded “If Mayor Frey had acted in a decisive manner and allowed law enforcement to use nonlethal force to stop the rioters, the destruction of the Third Precinct would not have occurred, and the rioting would not have escalated as quickly as it did. If Governor Walz had acted in a decisive manner by activating the Minnesota National Guard when requested, the riots would have been brought under control much faster.”
In legislative testimony, the head of the Minnesota National Guard, Lt. Gen. Jon Jensen said, "If we had done things differently on Tuesday, as it relates to numbers, as it relates to tactics, could we have avoided some of this? My unprofessional opinion as it relates to law enforcement is 'yes'. My professional military opinion is 'yes'."