UPDATE: Minneapolis Cops Who Killed Jamar Clark ID’d, FBI to Investigate

By Kenrya Rankin Nov 19, 2015

After four full days of citizen protest, the Minneapolis police officers who killed 24-year-old unarmed Black man Jamar Clark have been identified.

StarTribune reports that the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension named Mark Ringgenberg, 30, and Dustin Schwarze, 28, as the involved officers, but did not say which one fired the fatal shot. Their races have not been released, and are redacted in their personnel records, according to MPR News. Both officers have been working for seven years, and have been with the Minneapolis PD since September 2014.

Meanwhile, the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice have agreed to investigate the shooting to determine if the officers violated Clark’s civil rights. And activists just concluded a meeting with Minneapolis mayor Betsy Hodges, where they asked her to “take a stand against the Minneapolis Police Federation.”

Last night, officers donned riot gear and clashed with protestors, firing rubber bullets and a chemical agent in an attempt to break up the ongoing demonstration outside the MPD’s fourth precinct. Officers say some people threw rocks and water bottles. They began to dismantle the protestors’ makeshift camp outside the station, saying that it was blocking the entrance and security cameras in the building’s vestibule. See harrowing video of the confrontation here.

 

Activists say they will maintain their position outside the station until video is released that shows exactly what happened when Jamar Clark was killed. Police union president Lt. Bob Kroll said yesterday that Clark reached for an officer’s gun during a scuffle early Sunday morning. MPD chief Janeé Harteau did not mention that in her press conference earlier this week. Witnesses maintain that Clark was actually handcuffed and on the ground when he was shot in the head. He died on Monday night.