Live news coverage at George Floyd Square on the anniversary of his death was apparently interrupted by dozens of shots of gunfire at the site.

Fox News national correspondent Garrett Tenney was at the scene, announcing that his crew had to evacuate the area.

“We were running from the scene,” he tweeted, noting an Associated Press video which showed “closer to 30 gunshots were fired.”

Phillip Crowther, a reporter for the AP, posted rough footage of his broadcast when the shots rang out.

“We counted 30 [shots] upon looking back at the footage,” he wrote.

George Floyd Square is located at the intersection where Mr. Floyd died one year ago in an arrest from excessive force by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

Chauvin was convicted of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in April.

A family-friendly street festival was scheduled to take place after shots were fired.

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Shots Fired At George Floyd Square

Shots being fired at George Floyd Square is quite the conundrum for activists who have been trying to defund the police – especially the Minneapolis Police Department – for years.

It was the officers, after all, who had to respond to the scene.

“Minneapolis police responded Tuesday to reports of shots fired near George Floyd Square – the intersection where George Floyd died one year ago to the day – and the suspect is believed to have driven away after the fact,” Fox News reported.

According to NBC 5 in Chicago, the police officers responded to calls from the scene relaying that a vehicle was seen leaving the area at a high rate of speed.

At least one person was hospitalized with a gunshot wound after the shooting, though at present it is unclear if that injury is related to the incident at George Floyd Square.

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Defund The Minneapolis Police

The report of shots fired at George Floyd Square comes as police reform in Minneapolis is being stalled due to a surge of violence in the city.

Axios reports that calls to defund the department “have been drowned out by new calls to throw even more resources at the beleaguered department.”

“A surge in violence in the first half of 2021 has altered the conversation about policing in the city where the national protests against racism and police brutality began,” they write.

The city has seen 32 homicides thus far this year, more than twice the number at the same exact point in 2020 and quadruples the number from 2019.

Calls to defund the Minneapolis Police Department in the wake of the George Floyd tragedy were led by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) who called law enforcement there a “cancer.”

And yet, it is the police who are the first ones getting called when shots are fired at the Square that bears Floyd’s name.

Last month, President Biden’s Attorney General announced the Department of Justice (DOJ) would be conducting a sweeping investigation into the policing practices of the Minneapolis department.

 

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