Brooklyn Center police officers have killed six civilians since 2012, according to a Star Tribune database of fatal police encounters across the state.
All but one of them were men of color; four were Black, including 20-year-old Daunte Wright, who died during a routine traffic stop Sunday afternoon.
Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon on Monday said it appeared a senior officer meant to deploy her Taser, but instead fired a single fatal shot from her service pistol in what he described as an "accidental discharge."
The officer, who has been identified as Kimberly A. Potter, remains on standard administrative leave.
Over the past two decades in Minnesota, at least 207 people have died in encounters with law enforcement, according to a Star Tribune analysis.
Only one officer has been convicted of an on-duty killing in modern state history — and, as police reform advocates frequently point out, that Minneapolis officer was Somali-American and the victim was a white woman.
Wright is the latest victim of a fatal police shooting in the suburb just north of Minneapolis.
In 2019, Brooklyn Center officers shot 21-year-old Kobe Dimock-Heisler six times after he lunged at police with a knife during a domestic disturbance call.