Five Black Lives Matter protesters were shot Monday night in Minneapolis, and police are looking for three white male suspects. BLM organizers claim the shots were fired by a group of white supremacist counter-protesters.
Miski Noor, a representative for Black Lives Matter, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that a group of white supremacists had been showing up at the group’s encampment for the past several nights. Noor told the newspaper that late Monday the group opened fire on demonstrators who tried to move them away from the protest area, hitting five people.
Minneapolis police confirmed on Twitter that five people sustained non-life-threatening injuries. Police said they were looking for three white male suspects.
Minneapolis Police Department spokesman John Elder later told NBC News that it was “way too early” in the investigation to weigh in on allegations that the gunmen were white supremacists.
The shooting incident happened one block north of the Minneapolis Police Department’s 4th Precinct, according to a news release. Black Lives Matter demonstrators had been camping out nearby to protest the fatal police shooting of 24-year-old Jamar Clark, who some witnesses said was handcuffed when he was shot.
Witnesses to Monday night’s shooting told Noor that the gunmen were wearing masks and bulletproof vests, according to The New York Times. Dana Jaehnert, who was present at the protest site, told the Star-Tribune that she saw one of the men wearing a mask as well.
A Times reporter on a phone call to the police precinct also overheard officers describe a masked white man pulling out a gun while reviewing surveillance video of the area.
This post has been updated.
Okay, Hils: you’re the front-runner? Nail this racist bullshit to the GOP’s forehead. Show us.
Obviously a BLM ‘False Flag’ operation… /s
Thank God nobody was killed, but if the Republican candidates continue to incite it is only a matter of time.
They were “allegedly shot”? Surely one can tell. Perhaps shot by alleged white supremacists? Still a terrible thing and in our current political climate, tragically, not surprising
Oathkeepers? KKKlansmen? Trump supporters? Or as I like to think of them, the new GOP base.