The Minnesota National Guard was targeted in a drive by shooting in Minneapolis just hours after California Rep. Maxine Waters said that Black Lives Matter needs to be “more confrontational.”
The National Guard said that its members were, along with local police “providing neighborhood security” near Penn and Broadway avenue when people in an SUV opened fire on them, The Minnesota National Guard said on its website.
Thank God no National Guard members were injured in the shooting.
A Minnesota National Guard and Minneapolis Police Department neighborhood security team was fired upon early Sunday morning in a drive by shooting near Penn Avenue and Broadway.
The shooting occurred on or about 4:19 a.m., as a light colored SUV fired several shots at an Operation Safety Net security team providing neighborhood security. No team members were seriously injured. Two National Guard members did sustain minor injuries from the incident. One Guardsman sustain an injury from shattered glass requiring additional care and was taken to a local hospital to receive treatment for injuries sustained. The other Guardsman received only superficial injuries. No further information is available at this time.
“I am relieved to know none of our Guardsmen were seriously injured,” said Maj. Gen. Shawn Manke, Minnesota National Guard Adjutant General. “This event highlights the volatility and tension in our communities right now. I ask for peace as we work through this difficult time.”
The Minnesota National Guard is activated as part of Operation Safety Net, a joint effort among the Minneapolis Police Department, Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, the State of Minnesota and local jurisdictions. The Minnesota National Guard was activated as part of the effort to protect people, freedom of speech and property during the Derek Chauvin trial as well as the aftermath of the police involved shooting of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center.
This shooting came mere hours after Waters’ interview with reporters where she called on Black Lives Matters members to be “more confrontational.”
There is no evidence that the two incidents are related but it is not a good look for the representative.
As Black Lives Matter and Antifa groups nationwide have been burning and looting cities the 82-year-old representative has called on the former to be “more confrontational,” Fox News reported.
“I’m going to fight with all of the people who stand for justice,” Waters she said to reporters just before the 11 p.m. curfew in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota where Daunte wright was killed in a confrontation with police. “We’ve got to get justice in this country and we cannot allow these killings to continue.”
A reporter then asked Rep. Waters about what she would think if former Officer Derek Chauvin was found not guilty in his trial for the death of George Floyd.
“We’ve got to stay on the street and we’ve got to get more active, we’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to make sure that they know that we mean business,” she said.
More confrontational? She made the statement as she stood in a city where protesters have pelted police with rocks and bottles and have set fire to businesses.
Imagine the fury of the media if Trump told the Jan. 6 crowd in Washington, D.C. that the needed to get more confrontational.
The media and fact checkers, if they cover her statement at all, will likely twist themselves into knots to claim that Rep. Waters was not calling for violence, and really how do we or anyone else know what is in her heart? But the question is, how are the people who are rioting and being extremely confrontational with police going to take her statement?
“This is a very difficult time in the history of this country,” she said. “We have to let people know that we are not going to be satisfied unless we get justice in these cases.”
And ultimately Rep. Waters brought it back to politics and a pitch for people to vote for more Democrats as she stood in Minnesota, a state run by Democrats.
“The way to get in control is not to allow them to win,” the octogenarian representative said. “You’ve got to register and you’ve got to vote and you’ve got to take the power.”
The representative said that she will be in Minnesota until Monday, when the prosecution and defense in the Chauvin trial are expected to make their closing arguments.