The Minnesota police officer who fatally shot 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in suburban Minneapolis on Sunday has been identified as a 26-year veteran of her department.
Kimberly Potter of the Brooklyn Center Police Department is responsible for Wright’s death, according to a news release from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. She has been on “standard administrative leave” during the investigation into the incident, the department added.
Potter, 48, was first licensed as a police officer in 1995 and has served on the Brooklyn Center Police Department’s negotiation team, according to the Star Tribune. She was also reportedly among 11 officers who received a Chief’s Unit Certificate of Commendation in 2017, awarded following a 2016 death investigation.
“The group of officers performed lifesaving techniques on a victim while gathering witness testimony, leading to the arrest of a suspect,” the commendation reportedly read.
MINNESOTA TEAMS POSTPONE GAMES AFTER SHOOTING OF DAUNTE WRIGHT
Potter has also served as a police union president and was a member of the Law Enforcement Memorial Association as part of the casket team, which “functions as pallbearers, casket guards, and fold [sic] the American Flag that may be draped over the casket at law enforcement funerals,” according to its website.
#BREAKING: Minnesota police officer who fatally shot #DaunteWright after reportedly mistaking her Glock for a taser is identified as 48-year-old Kimberly A. Potter. Potter has been in law enforcement for 25 years, according to a report from @StarTribune https://t.co/kU2XE7W3kl pic.twitter.com/GdhAtz6AdH
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 13, 2021
Officers stopped Wright on Sunday for driving with an expired registration, and a background check during the traffic stop showed two outstanding warrants, including one for illegal ownership of a firearm.
Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon earlier Monday described what followed a brief struggle that ensued between Wright and the officers as an “accidental shooting,” saying that Potter had intended to fire her Taser rather than her firearm.
Body camera footage shows the struggle between officers and Wright. As Wright tries to flee in his car, Potter can be heard yelling, “Taser! Taser!” before shooting him.
“Holy s—. I shot him,” Potter can be heard saying.
The Hennepin County medical examiner released its autopsy report in the case on Monday, which said that Wright, who crashed into another car several blocks away, “died of a gunshot wound of the chest and manner of death is homicide.”
NEW: Hennepin County Medical Examiner releases autopsy report for #DaunteWright, who died at 2:18 PM Sunday afternoon after a Brooklyn Center Police Officer’s fatal shot.
“This individual died of a gunshot wound of the chest and manner of death is homicide.” #NBCNews pic.twitter.com/IcKOOxNaF7
— Morgan Chesky (@BreakingChesky) April 12, 2021
Protesters gathered Sunday night to demonstrate in the wake of Wright’s death, and the state deployed the National Guard after large crowds amassed outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department. Officers fired rubber bullets and tear gas after demonstrators threw rocks and other objects at the police department building.
Crowds gathered again on Monday, which resulted in police deploying tear gas and flash bangs, CNN reported.
Wright’s mother, Katie, discouraged violence as the proper response to her son’s death, saying on Sunday, “All the violence, if it keeps going, it’s only going to be about the violence. We need it to be about why my son got shot for no reason.”
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As city officials held press conferences and worked to handle the shooting’s fallout on Monday, City Manager Curt Boganey was fired from his post.
Though Mayor Mike Elliott did not offer a reason for Boganey’s firing when he announced it on Twitter, Boganey had earlier expressed that the then-unidentified officer should receive “due process.”
Wright’s death comes in the middle of the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is accused of killing George Floyd, another black man, last May.
