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Brooklyn Center, MN Mayor Mike Elliott appeared on CNN with protests underway in his city for a second consecutive night following the fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright.
Mayor Elliott said that with command authority of the Brooklyn Center Police Department transferred to his office earlier in the day Monday, orders on the ground are now being given from the regional command center put in-place to work public safety around the Derek Chauvin trial.
“Right now, the orders are coming from the regional command center, they're not coming from me or my department,” Elliott told Don Lemon. “The folks in the front line right now [who] are executing the orders are the state patrol, the [Minnesota] National Guard, and other law enforcement, and [Hennepin County] Sheriff’s Department of the regional command center that's established by the governor.”
Elliott said that the decision to dismiss City Manager City Manager Curt Boganey was a collective one, with the city council voting 4-1 to relieve him of his duties.
“They felt that it was a lack of leadership early on in how things unfolded with the situation,” Elliott said, adding he spoke to Daunte Wright’s father earlier in the day Monday and said he will continue to try to connect with his mother this week.
“All they want is justice to be done for their son and for there to be full truth and accountability,” the mayor said. “That's what we are committed to doing.”
The mayor confirmed that the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) was correct in their identification of Kim Potter as the officer who fatally shot Wright following a traffic stop on Sunday.
Elliott also pleaded with the people still protesting outside the Brooklyn Center police station well past curfew to go home.
“We want people to go home,” the mayor said. “People are still upset, and the goal right now is to try and disperse the crowd and trying to get people to go home.”