Woman killed when car slams into Minneapolis protesters

A woman was killed and two other people injured late Sunday night when a Minneapolis driver careened his car into a group of people protesting the shooting death of Winston Boogie Smith Jr. earlier this month.

Just before midnight local time, the car sped toward the protesters, hitting another car blocking the street and sending it flying into the crowd.

A woman was critically injured at the scene and pronounced dead at the hospital, the Minneapolis Police Department announced early Monday.

Two others were injured and hospitalized. One has since been treated and released. The other suffered non-life threatening injuries.

Protesters pulled the driver from the car and apprehended him until police took over.

The suspect is now in police custody and being treated at a local hospital, officials said. Drugs or alcohol “may be a contributing factor in the crash,” according to the Minneapolis Police Department.

A motive is still unclear and no one involved in the crash has been publicly identified by police.

The protesters were gathered at the entrance of the parking garage where Smith, a 32-year-old Black father of three, was fatally shot on June 3 by a task force that included U.S. Marshals during an attempted arrest.

The U.S. Marshals claimed Smith, who was wanted on a state warrant for being a felon in possession of a firearm, fired at them from his car, after which they returned fire, killing him.

But a lawyer for the 27-year-old woman who was in the car with Smith told reporters last week that she never saw Smith draw a weapon.

Authorities said there is no body or dash camera footage available of the fatal shooting.

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