False rumors of a police shooting resulted in rioting, arson, and looting in the U.S. city of Minneapolis from August 2628, 2020. The events began as a reaction to the suicide of Eddie Sole Jr., a 38-year old black man who was being pursued by Minneapolis police officers for his alleged involvement in a homicide. At approximately 2 p.m. on August 26, Sole died after he shot himself in the head as officers approached to arrest him. False rumors quickly spread on social media that Minneapolis police officers had fatally shot Sole. To quell unrest, Minneapolis police released closed-circuit television surveillance footage that captured Sole's suicide, which was later confirmed by a Hennepin County Medical Examiner's autopsy report.
The August "false rumors" riot occurred as the city was still dealing with the aftermath of the George Floyd protests and riots three months prior. Misinformation about the manner of Floyd's murder led to persistent mistrust between city residents and public officials. On the night of August 26, 2020, at least 132 people were arrested for violence and looting, as damage to 77 properties occurred in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan region, including five buildings that were set on fire. Minnesota government officials amassed nearly 1,000 members of law enforcement and 400 Minnesota National Guard troops to keep the peace. An 8:00 p.m. curfew was implemented on August 27, 2020, with 30 people being arrested in the first hour. During the duration of the curfew until it expired at 6:00 a.m. on August 28, over 100 people were arrested, including 80 for curfew violations.
A state of emergency declaration and curfew orders expired on August 31. Three Minnesota residents were later convicted of federal charges for an arson attack on the Target Corporation headquarters building the night of August 26. A Minneapolis man pled guilty to a state assault charge for striking an officer with an object during the riot.
Background
The initial cause of civil disorder was the suicide of a homicide suspect in downtown Minneapolis on August 26, 2020. The homicide was the 52nd of the year in the city. Many residents were still on edge from the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, when the Minneapolis Police Department had mischaracterized Floyd's death as due to "medical distress" in early statements about the incident. Protesters reacting to news of a new shooting death, that video later showed was a suicide, did not trust initial police accounts of the incident. Posts on social media websites suggested that Minneapolis police were responsible for the man's death.
The civil disorder also came as part of the larger Black Lives Matter movement and protests against police brutality in 2020. Late at night on August 15, 2020, in Minneapolis, a group of approximately 50 people marched to the city's fifth police precinct station in what was initially described as a peaceful protest, but it became violent when people threw rocks at windows, threw paint on the building, and shot commercial-grade fireworks at police officers, before fleeing the scene. The August 23, 2020, shooting of Jacob Blake, an African American man, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, by a police officer, led to protests and unrest that spilled into Minnesota. On August 24, 2020, in Minneapolis, a 100-person protest over Blake's shooting took place in the city's downtown area, and after the main protest group disbanded, some protesters broke windows and threatened to breach a jail facility, resulting in 11 arrests. One Minneapolis police officer suffered a broken hand during a confrontation with a demonstrator.
By August 2020, the downtown workforce in Minneapolis was at 85% of prior capacity, with many business closed and implementing remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and with fewer people on the street there were concerns about the perceptions of crime and lack of police presence.
Events August 26 Eddie George Gordon, a 61-year-old from Rush City, Minnesota, died from multiple gunshot wounds while inside a parking ramp near 10th Street North and Currie Avenue West at 2 p.m. on August 26, 2020, in downtown Minneapolis. Police sources believed he had been in an altercation with a man and woman, who both fled the scene on foot. Police apprehended the woman, but the man fled. At 6 p.m. the police had tracked him down on Nicollet Avenue and closed in for an arrest. The man was later identified as Eddie Sole Jr., a 38-year-old from Minneapolis. As police forces advanced to make an arrest, Sole Jr. shot himself in the head while standing on a sidewalk of the 800 block of Nicollet Avenue along Nicollet Mall, just before officers reached him. Within an hour of the suicide a large crowd had gathered at the scene.
The encounter between Sole Jr. and the police quickly sparked social media rumors about the manner of his death. At a Black Entrepreneur State Fair event on the other side of the Mississippi River in Father Hennepin Bluff Park, nearly away from where the death occurred, a DJ announced to the crowd that police were covering up a death with a suicide story. A group marched across the Stone Arch Bridge to downtown to protest what they believed was a police shooting. That evening protesters swelled into the city's downtown area and reached what was estimated as a crowd of 500 people.
In public statements, police denied that they had fired weapons at Sole Jr. during pursuit and released a surveillance video of his suicide to quell rumors that it was an officer involved shooting.Levenson, Michael (August 26, 2020). "Minneapolis Homicide Suspect's Suicide Spurs More Protests, Police Say" . New York Times. Retrieved on August 27, 2020. Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo sent text messages to several racial justice advocates seeking help in circulating the video, such as to Nekima Levy Armstrong who attempted to contain the spread of false information. However, some in the crowd downtown began breaking windows at nearby businesses, resulting in property destruction and looting at many stores and restaurants.Hyatt, Kim, Simons, Abby Walsh, Paul (August 27, 2020). "Curfew expires, daylight exposes rioting's scars in downtown Minneapolis" . Star Tribune. August 27, 2020. As the scene downtown became more violent, some in the crowd urged others stop the destruction, including a person on a megaphone who shouted, "We have the video — the man killed himself!"
At 9:30 p.m. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey publicly requested assistance from the Minnesota National Guard to restore order. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated troops just before 11:00 p.m. and the first troops arrived downtown just before midnight. Frey imposed a citywide curfew overnight, and both Walz and Frey declared a state of emergency.
Destruction overnight reached a total of 72 property locations in Minneapolis and four locations in neighboring Saint Paul. In Minneapolis, five businesses were set on fire, including a downtown restaurant and three other businesses located miles away from the city's downtown area. Two residents had to be rescued off the second story of a building after a China Wok Chinese restaurant caught fire. The rioting in downtown Minneapolis mostly stretched along Nicollet Mall from 5th to 12th streets, though it spread to a gas station and liquor store near Loring Park. Several people broke into the Target Corporation headquarters building, lighting fires at the entrance and in the mailroom. The rioting also an effect beyond downtown Minneapolis. Several businesses in south Minneapolis, Uptown, and Dinkytown were vandalized and looted, as was a liquor store in the suburb of Brooklyn Park.
Two Minneapolis police officers were seriously injured during the unrest and hospitalized, but the injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. One of the injuries, captured on a bystander's video, showed an officer being hit in the head by a trash can lid and becoming unconscious. Some bystanders cheered when the object hit the officer.
August 27–28
To prevent further rioting and looting, officials put in place a curfew on Thursday, August 27, 2020, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Friday, August 28, 2020. Nearly 1,000 members of law enforcement and 400 Minnesota National Guard troops amassed in the metro area to prevent additional crime. Thirty people were arrested between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Thursday for violating the curfew, with 50 additional people arrested for curfew violations during the following hours between Thursday night and Friday morning. At least 27 people were arrested and charged for other crimes during the rioting, including burglary, arson, assault, and drug possession. State and local officials declined to issue a new curfew after the curfew expired at 6 a.m. on Friday, August 28. However, Minneapolis city officials extended the state of emergency to 8 a.m. on Monday, August 31. National Guard troops and law enforcement were kept mobilized.
On August 28, 2020, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office identified the person who shot themselves as Eddie Sole Jr., a 38-year old black man from Minneapolis. The examiner listed his manner of death as a suicide.
August 29–31 After beginning on Wednesday night, August 26, 2020, the state of emergency ended at 8 a.m. on Monday, August 31, 2020.
Aftermath Suicide video controversy As protesters gathered in downtown Minneapolis the evening of August 26, 2020, the Minneapolis Police Department sent out a message via the Twitter website that contained an embedded video: "*WARNING: This video contains graphic images. This evening, a murder suspect committed suicide as police approached them at 8th & Nicollet. No officer weapons were fired. This is a tragedy for our community that is still hurting."
Release of the video generated controversy though allowable under a set special circumstances in Minnesota Statutes. Some Minneapolis officials believed that quick release of the video was necessary to stop rumors of a police shooting. City officials had to weigh pain of people seeing the graphic content with their intention of stopping rioting and looting. Minneapolis police and many media outlets took down postings of the video later in the evening on August 26, 2020.
Property damage
Seventy-seven properties were damaged during the unrest. A report by the Star Tribune tracked damage to 72 properties in Minneapolis, including five with fire damage, and damage to four properties in Saint Paul. Most damage occurred on Nicollet Mall between 5th and 12th streets. A liquor store in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park was also looted during the period of unrest. The five Minneapolis businesses set on fire on August 26, 2020, included the Target Corporation building, Brits Pub on the Nicollet Mall in downtown, and three businesses in south Minneapolisa Tires Plus store, a Walgreens drug store, and a China Wok restaurant. It was unclear to investigators if the fire at China Wok was directly related to the unrest or not. The south Minneapolis area had also been at the epicenter of heavy rioting after Floyd's murder in late May 2020, including where a police station was torched.