Mayor Jacob Frey Calls On National Guard Following Violence In South Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Amid a night of chaos in south Minneapolis, Mayor Jacob Frey has called in the National Guard to help control the crowds protesting the death of George Floyd.
The Minnesota State Patrol, St. Paul Police, and Metro Transit police officers were also called in overnight to support Minneapolis Police as buildings went up in flames along Lake Street near the Minneapolis Police Department's 3rd Precinct.
From miles away, the chaos and destruction in south Minneapolis was evident all night. By the early morning hours, the shouts of protesters had mostly given way to the buzzing of alarms at stores. Virtually every business within two blocks of the police station was damaged and/or looted.
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One building that was currently under construction was fully engulfed in flames overnight.
Power outages affected the area near Wednesday night's protests; Xcel Energy reported that about 2,700 customers were affected by the outages.
Floyd died Monday night after he was pinned down by the neck by a Minneapolis officer for at least seven minutes.
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