Gunfire Erupted at Several George Floyd Protests and People Were Shot

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Protesters around the country are being exposed to a deadly new element: gunfire.

Shots rang out Thursday night and Friday morning in Minneapolis, Louisville and Denver, where thousands of angry civilians took to the streets to protest police violence.

Seven people were shot during the protest in Louisville, and at least one is in critical condition, police told CBS. A spokesperson for the Louisville Metro Police told the the AP that police officers were not involved in the shootings, and that they are under investigation.

The gunshots came as protesters marched to demand justice for Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old black EMT who was killed by police in March when they raided her apartment to serve a no-knock warrant. She was shot eight times.

About six or seven gunshots were also heard in Denver, where protesters gathered to show support for demonstrations in Minneapolis, where a black man was choked to death by a white officer on Monday.

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Videos from local news outlets captured the moment that the gunshots broke out in the vicinity of the state capitol. Some protesters grab one another in fear and drop to the ground — others run for cover and seek shelter behind the columns of the Capitol. There were no injuries reported.

Gunfire was not the only violent incident in Denver. A woman drove her car into a crowd of protesters who were blocking the street. Nobody appeared to be injured.

The chaotic scenes in Minneapolis continued on Thursday, where a protester was shot dead by a store owner the previous night. At least five gunshots were heard in Minneapolis, though it’s unclear whether anyone was injured. Multiple officers were treated for injuries related to protesters burning down the 3rd Precinct.

Heavily-armed riot police were deployed across the country to contain the protests. In several cases, they used tear gas and rubber bullets against protesters to try to get them to disperse.

There have been examples of gunfire breaking out at previous police brutality protests. For example, gunfire erupted during the Black Lives Matter protests in Ferguson in 2015, when rival factions started shooting at each other.

During a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas, Texas in 2016, a heavily-armed man (unaffiliated with the protest) opened fire on police, killing five officers, injuring nine officers and injuring two civilians.

Cover: Protestors set a shop on fire on Thursday, May 28, 2020, during the third day of protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis on Monday night, after an officer held his knee into Floyd's neck for more than 5 minutes. (Photo: Jordan Strowder/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)