Cop Mistook Handgun For Taser In US Shooting Of Black Man: Police

"The officer drew their handgun instead of their taser," Brooklyn Center police chief Tim Gannon said at a press conference about Sunday's shooting of Daunte Wright.

The policewoman who fatally shot a 20-year-old Black man in a Minneapolis suburb accidentally confused her handgun with her taser, police said Monday, fueling tensions in this city already on edge because of the George Floyd murder trial. "The officer drew their handgun instead of their taser," Brooklyn Center police chief Tim Gannon said at a press conference about Sunday's shooting of Daunte Wright. Gannon said it was his belief that the officer, who has been placed on leave pending an investigation, "had the intention to deploy their taser but instead shot Mr Wright with a single bullet." "This was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr Wright," Gannon said. "There is nothing I can say to lessen the pain of Mr Wright's family."