Utopia Talk / Politics / Looters sack Minneapolis...again

Rugian rank	Thu Aug 27 17:05:35 2020 Tl;dr: a man accused of murder commits suicide; a false rumor goes around that the police killed him; more riots break out in response. ------ Curfew expires, daylight exposes rioting's scars in downtown Minneapolis Downtown Minneapolis methodically regained an atmosphere of order Thursday morning after a suicide of a homicide suspect on Nicollet Mall ignited waves of rioting similar to what followed George Floyd's death three months ago. A city-imposed curfew was lifted at 6 a.m., and National Guard personnel were positioned downtown, while some Metro Transit service was back up and running after being idled for hours. Fire officials are investigating the apparent torching of four retail outlets overnight that expanded the destruction well beyond the city's core. One was downtown at Brit's Pub at 1110 Nicollet Mall. Others miles away broke out at Tires Plus at 1103 W. Lake St., China Wok at S. 2800 27th Ave., and Walgreens at 4323 S. Chicago Ave. Fire crews rescued two residents from above the China Wok restaurant, one off the roof and the other from a second-floor window using ladders, said Assistant Fire Chief Bryan Tyner. Tyner said fire officials are treating the blazes, which caused no injuries, as suspicious. Wednesday night's unrest came amid false rumors that police had fatally shot a Black man on Nicollet Mall hours after he was implicated in a homicide elsewhere downtown. Police almost immediately released city surveillance video of the suicide, but it did little to calm people in crowds who broke windows at retail stores, restaurants, bars and coffee shops. Arrests were made, but police have yet to say how many were apprehended. (The Star Tribune published a portion of that video showing the moments before the suspect's death as debate about the cause of death sparked unrest. We have since removed the video because of its graphic nature and because immediate concerns about public safety have eased.) The sudden chaos prompted Gov. Tim Walz to declare an emergency in the city and mobilize the Minnesota National Guard and 150 State Patrol troopers. In a news conference around 11 p.m., Walz said the violence would not be allowed to continue. "Minneapolis, it's time to heal," he said. "We must rebuild and recover. Dangerous, unlawful behavior will not be tolerated." Businesses targeted with destruction and looting were many in downtown and included Chipotle, Caribou, Walgreens, Nordstrom Rack and the nearby Target store. Many have been struggling to stay afloat financially for months from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. If not for the alarm buzzing at Brit's, it was largely quiet downtown Thursday morning. Glass shards everywhere and trash, fire sprinklers still on. Cleanup personnel were joined by downtown neighbors Jonathan Fishbein and Michelle McCoy in helping with their own brooms and garbage bags. Signs on Target's entrance said its Thursday hours would be noon to 6 p.m. Employees said looters were inside for only a few minutes and damage was not that extensive. The rioting's effects stretched from 5th to 12th along Nicollet, then reached over to the Speedway and the neighboring Greenway Liquor Store near Loring Park. Caution tape surrounded the gas pump and gas station entrance. "They took everything," a Speedway employee said, register and all. The retailer was closed and turning away many customers trying to cross the tape. Aside from lingering yellow police tape, there was scant police presence Thursday morning. Squads were seen periodically driving down Nicollet Mall, not unlike other weekday mornings. Downtown residents were outside walking their dogs, some stopping to take photos of the damage. Buildings were spray-painted with "Everybody hates the police," "No justice, no peace" and "loot more." In a series of tweets soon after the unrest, Council Member Jeremiah Ellison got word out that the man's death was a suicide but also sought to explain the rationale behind the immediate suspicion that police killed the homicide suspect and the resulting violence. "MPD did not kill him, but people assuming they did is rooted in a steep distrust," Ellison, who represents the North Side, said. "That distrust is our failure to own." He acknowledged that "seeing windows broken and items stolen can be beyond frustrating, especially when all that rage was sparked (this time) by misinformation. But so often our policing institutions have themselves been the source of misinformation." One man tending to the destruction at Brit's said he was associated with the building's owners but declined to comment, saying, "I can't. I will burst into tears." Toya Burt, 42, a nursing assistant from Bloomington, said commutes daily from downtown always sees police and crowds along Nicollet Mall. "A lot of people are hanging out down here since Hennepin Avenue is under construction," said Burt, in aqua scrubs and a face mask. "I feel OK being down here because police are down here protecting people going to work." Jerome Jackson, 60, waited out the curfew before coming to park downtown on his way to work from South St. Paul to Turning Point. He perched under the Mary Tyler Moore statue to listen to gospel music and observe the aftermath. "Sad state of affairs," Jackson, who said he was a police officer 20 years in Louisiana, added. "Tearing up your own community won't result in anything. But a lot of people feel left out." The night before, Chloe Caplan made a quick trip to Target on Wednesday for a thermometer. She arrived through the parking garage and didn't notice the large crowds out front. Caplan was halfway up the escalator, when "all of the sudden I heard people screaming and yelling and chanting." She looked below to see several young people running through the store. Once they got to the top, they made a break for the elevators to leave the store. A Target employee ushered Caplan into a closet, where other employees were taking cover. She heard several loud noises, and after 15 minutes they got the all clear. She emerged to see displays knocked over. "It was very scary. We didn't know if someone was going to try to break the door down, we had no idea what was going on," she said. "In hindsight it was not that traumatic, but at the time it was because I had no idea what was going on." Around 10 p.m., a crowd remained in the heart of downtown but was mostly peaceful as police blocked off large areas. The man who died, whose identity has not been made public, was wanted for the slaying of another man earlier that day in a downtown Minneapolis parking garage. While on foot at 8th Street and Nicollet Mall at 6 p.m. Wednesday, the suspect "appears to have seen officers approaching, he turned into a doorway ... produced a handgun" and shot himself under the chin, said police spokesman John Elder. Police say three people were in the parking garage dispute, which turned physical. The man who later killed himself shot another man and fled with a woman, Elder said. Police soon located and detained the woman "to determine her level of involvement in this shooting," Elder said. The suspected shooter, however, kept walking until he took his own life on the Nicollet Mall, Elder said. The death of Floyd on May 25 while being detained on the pavement by police at E. 38th Street and S. Chicago Avenue sparked days of rioting in south Minneapolis and St. Paul that left hundreds of properties torched, looted or otherwise damaged. Two deaths have been attributed to the unrest. Staff writers Shannon Prather, Andy Mannix, David Chanen, Liz Sawyer and Torey Van Oot contributed to this report. http://m.s...ting-in-minneapolis/572236922/
habebe rank	Thu Aug 27 17:37:02 2020 Just wait, the Dems will come out and explain how the white flight to follow is the real tragedy and the area will fall down to Baltimore standards.
jergul rank	Thu Aug 27 17:37:53 2020 A good time for distressed property owners to liquidate assets I suppose :D.
patom rank	Thu Aug 27 18:18:05 2020 Now waiting to hear from the community, all the complaining that they have to travel to the suburbs to purchase groceries and other needs of normal life. Here's betting that property insurance triples for any retail store in the inner cities. If they keep it up, delivery service companies like UPS or FedEx etc. will refuse to deliver in the danger zones. Or they may up their rates to the point that locals will have to travel out of the city to buy groceries.
habebe rank	Thu Aug 27 18:36:00 2020 well,Insurance will likely go up. Idk about the Fed ex/ups thing.
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