In Portland, Oregon, where protests have unfolded for two months, demonstrators squared off against federal agents outside a US courthouse.
The unrest Saturday and early Sunday stemmed from protests over racial injustice and police brutality that flared after the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25.
A 28-year-old man, Garrett Foster, who was pushing his fiancée’s wheelchair at a protest in the Texas capital’s downtown, was shot and killed when a suspect fired from a vehicle Saturday night, the couple’s families said, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Foster’s mother said he was protesting police violence with his fiancée, Whitney Mitchell.
“He was going to these protests because he was fighting against police brutality,” Sheila Foster said Sunday. “He was pushing her wheelchair across the intersection when this happened. Thank God she didn’t get hit.”
Just before 10 pm Saturday, a car sped down the street and toward the crowd, according to witnesses, who said the driver pointed a gun out the window, fired several shots and sped away, the newspaper reported. In a video of the protest by journalist Hiram Gilberto, a car can be heard blowing its horn and someone shouting, “Everybody back up!” before several gunshots rang out.
Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said Sunday that several protesters — including Foster, who was carrying an assault rifle — approached the car. Manley said the driver reported Foster pointed his assault weapon at him. The driver then pointed his handgun outside the window and fired multiple shots before driving off, Manley said, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
Someone else opened fire on the car as it drove away, Manley said.
Austin police said they detained the person who fired the fatal shots and he cooperated with investigators. He has been released, along with the second shooter, Manley said.
“We are heartbroken over the loss of Mr. Foster last night. It is actively being investigated … in conjunction with the Travis County District Attorney’s Office,” Manley said.
“All I know is that someone dying while protesting is horrible,” Mayor Steve Adler of Austin said in a statement. “Our city is shaken and, like so many in our community, I’m heartbroken and stunned.”
Foster had told the reporter who livestreamed the event, “They don’t let us march in the streets anymore, so I got to practice some of our rights. If I use it against the cops, I’m dead.”
After the shooting, a crowd gathered outside Austin police headquarters, where protesters chanted: “Say his name! Garrett Foster,” according to a reporter for the Statesman.
In Seattle, police officers retreated into a precinct station early Sunday, hours after large demonstrations in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.
Rocks, bottles, fireworks and mortars were fired at police, who said they arrested at least 45 people for assaults on officers, obstruction and failure to disperse. Twenty-one officers were hurt, with most of their injuries considered minor, police said.
In Portland, thousands of people gathered Saturday evening for another night of protests over Floyd’s killing and the presence of federal agents sent to the city by President Donald Trump. Protesters breached a fence surrounding the city’s federal courthouse building where the agents have been stationed.
“The Lamestream Media, including @FoxNews, which has really checked out, is refusing to show what is REALLY going on in Portland, Seattle, and other places. They want the American public to believe that these are just some wonderful protesters, not radical left ANARCHISTS!” Trump tweeted on Sunday afternoon.
Portland police declared the situation to be a riot, and at around 1:20 am, they began ordering people to leave the area around the courthouse or risk arrest, saying on Twitter that the violence had created “a grave risk” to the public.
“Portland is leading,” Chantelle Hershberger, an organizer with Refuse Fascism who was part of a protest in Los Angeles against the presence of federal agents in Portland, told The New York Times. “They’re showing what it looks like to stay in the streets despite police oppression, despite the federal forces being sent in. This kind of energy is actually what’s needed.”
In the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colorado, a protester shot and wounded someone after a car drove through a crowd marching on an interstate highway, police said. The injured person was hospitalized in stable condition. Police said on Twitter that demonstrators also caused “major damage” to the local courthouse.
Protesters in Oakland, California, set fire to the county courthouse, damaged a police station, broke windows, sprayed graffiti, shot fireworks and pointed lasers at officers after a peaceful demonstration Saturday evening turned violent, police said.
In Baltimore, people from a group of nearly 100 demonstrators spray-painted anti-police messages on a Fraternal Order of Police building and nearby sidewalks on Saturday night, The Baltimore Sun reported.
In Los Angeles, authorities arrested three people for alleged battery on a police officer and another person who allegedly had a machete, on suspicion of causing a disturbance, LAPD said, according to ktla.com.
“The Los Angeles Police Department is committed to making certain that Angelenos can exercise their First Amendment rights peacefully, and we cannot allow violence and destruction of property to put anyone’s safety at risk — whether they be officers, demonstrators, or bystanders,” Police Chief Michel Moore said in a statement.
In New York City, six NYPD vans were damaged after hundreds of protesters marched from the Lower East Side of Manhattan to police headquarters at One Police Plaza, lighting fires in garbage cans as they crossed paths with outdoor diners, the New York Post reported.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.
