'He Was Our Angel': Family Of Daunte Wright On Police Shooting

BROOKLYN CENTER, MN — Impassioned relatives tearfully remembered Daunte Wright, the 20-year-old man who was shot and killed Sunday by a police officer in Brooklyn Center, during a Tuesday afternoon news conference.

"He was our angel, he belonged to us," said Naisha Wright, Daunte Wright's aunt. "He's gonna be missed."

"I feel like they stole my son's dad from him," the mother of Wright's child said during the news conference, hosted by attorney Ben Crump.

Crump said it's "unfathomable" that a fatal police shooting of a Black man would occur during the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder in the Memorial Day 2020 death of George Floyd.

"Much less in a suburb" just 10 miles from Minneapolis, the attorney said of the Wright shooting in Brooklyn Center.

"If ever there was a time, when nobody in America should be killed by police, it's during this pinnacle trial of Derek Chauvin, which I believe is one of the most impactful civil rights use of force cases in the history of America," Crump said.

Speakers, including members of Floyd's family and NAACP leaders, called for justice amid chants of "Black Lives Matter" and "Say his name... Daunte Wright."

"They took him," another of Wright's relatives said during the news conference. "They need to pay."

Katie Wright, Daunte Wright's mother, said Sunday was the worst day of her life, recalling the phone conversation she had with him as he was pulled over. She said police ordered him off the phone, and when she called back, a woman answered, with video on, showing her that her son had been shot.

"That's the last time I've heard from my son, and I've had no explanation since then," she said.

Kim Potter, the police officer who shot Wright, resigned Tuesday along with Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon. Gannon had previously said Potter shot Wright on accident, intending to use a Taser on him.

Speakers reacted promisingly to the resignation development, but called for her arrest "just like they would one of us."