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Looter is shot dead by pawn shop owner and stores are ransacked and torched as George Floyd protest erupts in violence and armed vigilantes patrol Minneapolis streets in second night of violence

• Minneapolis Police Chief John Elder confirmed a man was shot dead during the chaos on Wednesday night  
• The man’s body was found lying on the sidewalk by cops who performed CPR but were unable to save him
• Chief wouldn’t confirm the shooter was a shop owner and the victim a looter but someone has been arrested
• News of the death topped off a night of chaos across the city as looters ransacked and set fire to stores 
• Vigilantes calling themselves ‘heavily armed rednecks’ stood guard outside businesses to protect them 
• The chaos erupted on day two of protests over the death of George Floyd who died on Monday 
• Footage emerged Tuesday of white cop Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck moments before he died

BY RACHEL SHARP

SEE: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8363407/Protesters-descend-streets-Minneapolis-second-night-death-George-Floyd.html;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

A suspected looter has been shot dead outside a pawn shop after protests over the death of George Floyd descended into chaos Wednesday night and rioters vandalized stores across the city.

Minneapolis Department Police Chief John Elder confirmed in a midnight press conference that one person was shot and killed and that another person was being held in custody.

Elder said officers had responded to reports of a possible stabbing at around 9.25pm between Bloomington and Lake Street.

The body of a man – who medics later confirmed had been shot – was found lying on the sidewalk outside the Cadillac Pawn shop by police officers who performed CPR on him.

Stores including Wendy’s, Target, Walmart and AutoZone were looted, ransacked and some set alight before rioters tried to bust open an ATM, as many ignored pleas from the Floyd family’s lawyer and Minnesota Governor Walz to protest peacefully Wednesday night.

Videos showed what was reported to be an apartment building entirely engulfed by flames as rioters stood and watched and the fire department was nowhere to be seen. An AutoZone store was also one of those which was set on fire.

Outside a GM Tobacco store, a group of four men with huge firearms were seen and said they had come to protect local businesses from looters,

During the riots, a woman in a wheelchair was punched in the head and sprayed with a fire extinguisher after trying to block protesters – allegedly with a knife in her hand.

Elder said that ‘everything was done that we could do to try to preserve this man’s life’ but the adult male died in hospital.

The police chief refused to confirm reports that the shooter was the owner of the pawn shop who shot the victim dead because he was looting his store.

He said this was ‘one theory’ but that police are investigating ‘a couple of different scenarios that might have happened’.

Elder would not divulge what the other scenarios are. He added that there had been no other reports of injuries among protesters or police officers.

The police chief also slammed the actions of looters and rioters which he branded ‘disrespectful’ to Floyd’s family and to all the protesters who gathered peacefully to demand justice over his death.

‘If people are there to truly honor the man and his family this isn’t how you do it and it’s so disrespectful and it’s heartbreaking,’ he said.

‘People are utilizing this as a purpose just to make bad decisions.’

A source told KSTP that the city has requested support from the National Guard to bring the violence under control.

It comes as: 

• A video was widely shared on social media on Tuesday showing white officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes as he pleads to be released before eventually losing consciousness and later dying
• Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Minneapolis later that night demanding justice for the 46-year-old, leading to confrontations with police officers firing rubber bullets 
• Four Minneapolis police officers involved in Floyd’s arrest were fired on Tuesday after initially being placed on paid administrative leave  
• Four fired police officers are named as Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and J Alexander Kueng 
• Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called on prosecutors Wednesday to arrest and charge Chauvin   
• New video footage casts fresh doubt on claims Floyd resisted as two officers are seen manhandling and forcibly removing him from his car and he appears to be complying with officers  
• Floyd’s family demanded police officer Chauvin be charged with murder, and the other three officers involved charged as murder accomplices
• A protest started in the streets of downtown LA Wednesday night over Floyd’s death with one man being taken to hospital after he fell from a moving police cruiser 
• Minneapolis protesters escalated into violence Wednesday as cops and protesters clashed and stores including Target, AutoZone and Walmart were ransacked and set on fire by looters 
• A looter was shot dead in Minneapolis Wednesday night and officers had arrested a man for homicide

News of the death topped off a night of chaos and destruction across the city as rioters stripped shelves bare, set fire to stores and tried to break into a bank.

Footage on social media showed car parts company AutoZone up in flames as people were seen hurling rocks through its windows.

Another structure, said to be a new apartment building, was filmed as flames entirely engulfed it and made it collapse.

With the fire department initially nowhere to be seen, reports on social media said they were being forced to stay away because of the violent rioters.

Stores and building near the fire were being splashed with water by citizens in an effort to stop the flames spreading. They were pictured filling buckets from fire hydrants.

Fire fighters were then seen spraying buildings including the Schooner tavern which had also caught fire.

At the Target store near the site of Floyd’s arrest, the inside of the store lay in ruins, with stock depleted of all goods and the remaining merchandise flung across the floor.

Witnesses reported thieves using power tools to break open cash registers and trying to access the store’s safes, before it too was set alight and seen engulfed in flames.

Rioters then turned to a Wendy’s where they sprayed graffiti on the walls before moving onto a bank – trying to bust it open and raid the ATMs.

A woman in a wheelchair was also punched in the head and sprayed with a fire extinguisher after trying to block protesters – allegedly with a knife in her hand.

The woman claimed she was ‘peacefully protesting’ to stop people from looting a Target store, but she was quickly set upon by a crowd who subdued her.

The crowd outside the Target store shouted that the woman had a knife, and footage showed her holding what appeared to be a sharp object.

Named online as Jennifer, she later said she had been ‘punched in the head several times’ before others tried to restrain her.

Footage of the violent clash has been widely shared on social media, including by conservative writer Andy Ngo.

A group of four men with huge firearms were seen outside a GM Tobacco store as they said they had come to protect local businesses from looters, reported Minnesota Reformer.

The vigilantes called themselves ‘heavily armed rednecks’ as they stood guard outside the businesses.

Disorder erupted in the streets of the city on the second day of the rally over Floyd’s death, after footage emerged Tuesday showing white police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on the black man’s neck moments before he died in police custody.

Floyd is heard pleading with Chauvin, saying ‘please, please, I can’t breathe’ and ‘My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Everything hurts’ while witnesses urged the arresting officers to stop.

Cops were seen spraying pepper spray into the crowds and outraged Minnesotans threw metal railings at the windows of the police precinct as the two groups clashed on Wednesday.

This followed chaotic scenes at Tuesday night’s protest where demonstrators were seen dousing their faces in milk to limit the effects of the tear gas and desperately fleeing the hail of rubber bullets raining down on them.

Minnesota Governor Walz issued a plea Wednesday for people to practice social distancing and protest peacefully while calling on cops to exercise restraint at the rally.

A new incident report was also released Wednesday revealing medics arrived at the scene of Floyd’s arrest to find the black man already ‘unresponsive’ and ‘pulseless’.

Wednesday’s protest started peacefully but clashes soon emerged between the demonstrators and police officers before the city erupted with violence.

One woman was seen being blasted in the face with pepper spray as she held up a banner with a slogan saying ‘Charge killer cops’.

People launched missiles including rocks and bottles at the building where the four officers connected to Floyd’s death worked.

Some protesters also threw debris at a car with pro-Trump and pro-police messaging on it as it drove through the area.

Police officers and protesters started gathering throughout Wednesday outside the Minneapolis police third precinct close to the scene of Floyd’s arrest.

Flowers and photos were laid outside the Cups Food deli where the incident unfolded Monday to pay homage to the man who family members said was ‘everyone’s favorite person’.

Many protesters were pictured wearing face masks to protect against the spread of COVID-19 as Governor Walz urged people to practice social distancing.

Police officers wore riot gear and held bats as they tried to create a human barrier between demonstrators and the precinct.

Some cops were seen stationed on the roof of the building looking down on the crowds gathering below.

Authorities claimed Tuesday that Floyd had resisted arrest by cops, however footage from the scene has cast doubt on the version of events as it appears to show the 46-year-old father of two cooperating with officers as he is manhandled out of his vehicle and placed in handcuffs outside the Cup Foods grocery store on 38th and Chicago Ave in south Minneapolis.

The release of the MFD report sheds yet more light on Monday’s shocking events, detailing that fire crew were called to assist medics with a man – called ‘pt’ in the report – who had trauma to his mouth.

It states that Fire Station 17 of Minneapolis arrived at the scene outside the Cup Foods store to find ‘multiple squads on scene and small crowd of citizens’.  

The report points to confusion at the scene as neither the cops nor bystanders gave information to medics on Floyd or his location.

It says that while the crew tried to find Floyd to give medical support, they overheard and were told by ‘several people that the police “had killed the man”‘.

The report adds that the bystanders were ‘upset but not unruly’.

Crew members were finally able to find a cop inside the store who told them medics had put Floyd in an ambulance and left the scene.

Crew members were also told by an off-duty firefighter who witnessed the end of the struggle that they had seen Floyd become unresponsive on the ground while handcuffed and subdued by cops, the report says.

Medics then called for assistance and the crew responded to the ambulance which had moved to 36th and Park Avenue.

Two crew members got into the ambulance where they found ‘an unresponsive, pulseless male’, the report states.

According to the report, medics never managed to recover a pulse on route to the hospital and Floyd’s ‘condition did not change’.

Governor Walz broke protocol in his daily coronavirus briefing Wednesday to talk about the ‘tragic events’ in Minneapolis Monday and to send his ‘deepest sympathies’ to Floyd’s family.

‘Like so many Minnesotans and so many people across the country and world I was shocked and horrified by the video of George Floyd’s death,’ the governor said.

‘It’s very clear to anyone that what happened to George Floyd is wrong,’ Walz said.

‘The lack of humanity in the video as I said made me physically ill and is even more difficult to understand.’

An autopsy has not yet been completed, officials said.