A drive-by shooting that turned into a shoot-out happened at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis on the one-year anniversary of his death. Several camera crews and reporters representing news outlets from around the world were present on Tuesday afternoon at about 10 a.m. local time. The sun was shining and there wasn’t much of a cloud in the sky. Yet, during several live broadcasts, gunshots rang out. The most popular video came from an AP reporter whose piece about police reform was interrupted by gunshots.
The shooting did not sound like what one would imagine a drive-by shooting sounding like. That would typically be a handful of shots followed by tires screeching. In this case, the shooting went on for at least a minute of stopping and starting. Police say that one person was shot with non-life treatening injuries. That person has yet to be identified. Maybe the shooting was targeted, maybe it was random. Either way it goes, the shooting underlines the actual problem aside from the non-issues that the reporters were speaking of.
The “Defund the Police” movement has taken the country by storm. Police budgets in several American cities have been reduced to bare bones. Cities like Kansas City, New York, and Los Angeles have embraced this ideology with disastrous results. Minneapolis is no different. “George Floyd Square” is sort of an autonomous zone similar to the infamous CHAZ/CHOP place in Seattle last year that was notorious for all sorts of violent crime. Police are not welcome in these places. These areas are often criminal havens under the guise of being a space for peaceful protests. One person has already been killed in George Floyd Square. So the broad daylight shooting with cameras and reporters everywhere is not surprising.
The actual issue here is that high-crime areas need more security, not less. Defunding the police is a silly notion on it’s face without even getting too deep into the philosophy. And the more live-broadcast broad-daylight shootings are viewed by the world, maybe the lunacy of defunding the police will start to die down.
SOURCES:
Drive-By Shooting in George Floyd Square Caught on Live TV on Anniversary of His Death | Human Events
George Floyd death anniversary: Reports of gunshots near memorial – CNN
George Floyd Square shooting: Police report 1 hurt; community gathers
Gunshots heard near George Floyd square on anniversary of death | KSTP.com
Minneapolis Residents Sue Over Reduced Police Presence | Time
Sasha Johnson: UK’s Black Lives Matter activist in critical condition after being shot in head in London – CNN
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