Law enforcement search for armed suspect, Vance Boelter, in fatal shooting of Minnesota lawmaker.

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Updated: Feb. 10, 2021 | Posted: June 1, 2020

The killing of George Floyd, 46, of St. Louis Park, who 

repeatedly told a Minneapolis police officer he couldn’t breathe as the officer knelt on his neck

, sparked mass protests at dozens of cities across the nation and days of widespread looting, fires and destruction in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Four officers involved in the May 25 arrest were fired

was charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the killing

. The other three ex-officers have been charged with aiding and abetting. The trial for former officer Derek Chauvin 

; the other three officers will be tried in August. 

Here’s a summary of what we know about what happened. 

Police were called to the Cup Foods store on the corner of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020 — Memorial Day — on a report of a man who was using fake bills to buy a pack of cigarettes, according to the 911 transcript. The caller tells a dispatcher they asked the man to return the cigarettes he bought but that the the man is “drunk and not in control of himself” and refuses to give back the cigarettes. 

According to a criminal complaint, officers Derek Chauvin and his partner Tou Thao arrived at the scene as two other officers, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng, were trying to get Floyd into the back of a squad car. Floyd said he was claustrophobic and didn't want to get in the car, and that he complained of not being able to breathe even while he was standing up.

Floyd “took himself to the ground” while handcuffed at 8:19 p.m., according to the charging document. That's when Chauvin placed his knee on Floyd's head and neck area while Floyd was lying prone on the pavement.  

A bystander recorded the incident and streamed it on Facebook. Floyd can be heard telling the officer he couldn’t breathe and onlookers could be heard imploring Chauvin to let Floyd up. 

Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd's neck for about nine minutes. 

No one at the scene could be seen administering first aid to Floyd, who was loaded onto a gurney by a paramedic and taken to HCMC where he was pronounced dead. 

 described Floyd’s death as a homicide, saying he went into cardiopulmonary arrest as Chauvin kept his knee on the prone, handcuffed man.

The office also identified “hypertensive heart disease, “fentanyl intoxication” and “recent methamphetamine use” as other “significant conditions.”

The lawyer representing Floyd’s family said earlier the same day that their private autopsy found Floyd died of “asphyxia due to neck and back compression” and that Floyd died at the scene where Minneapolis police detained and restrained him.

Chauvin was a Minneapolis police officer for 19 years before he was fired on May 26, 2020. He had nearly 20 complaints and two letters of reprimand filed against him during his tenure with Minneapolis police. He has not spoken publicly since Floyd's death, his firing nor his arrest and charging. 

In 2006, Chauvin was among a group of six officers who opened fire on a stabbing suspect after a chase that ended when the suspect pointed a sawed-off shotgun at them.  A grand jury decided the use of force was justified,

Two years later, he shot a man after he answered a domestic dispute call, the AP reported citing a Pioneer Press article. In that case, Chauvin shot the man after he went for the officer’s gun. The suspect survived and was charged in the case. 

In the Floyd killing, Chauvin was initially charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Ellison added an additional count of second-degree murder on June 3. 

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, lead prosecutor in the killing of Floyd, on June 3  filed aiding and abetting charges against the other three ex-Minneapolis officers involved — 

Chauvin will be tried months before the three other officers are scheduled to go on trial. Jury selection will begin March 8, 2021, and opening statements will begin no earlier than March 29. 

The trial for Thao, Lane and Kueng is expected to begin Aug. 23, 2021.  

When did the protests begin and when did they turn from peaceful into mayhem?

People took to the streets the day after Floyd’s death near the Cup Foods, and peacefully pleaded for justice in the case and for the officers to be arrested and charged in his killing. Almost immediately, city, state and federal leaders and law enforcement experts decried the level of force used by Chauvin. 

By May 27, 2020, the peaceful protest began to 

 — with one man shot and killed— which gave way to multiple fires being set in Minneapolis 

By May 28, 2020, the Police Department’s 

3rd Precinct was evacuated and destroyed.

 Gov. Tim Walz activated the National Guard. 

 and Walz ordered the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis under curfew but law enforcement officers took a mostly hands-off approach and similar uprisings were staged in dozens of cities across the nation. 

During May 30’s curfew, thousand of members of the National Guard and law enforcement officers 

By the morning of May 31, 2020, Walz and other leaders attributed the curfew and residents’ adherence to it as helping to stamp down continued destruction. More than 100 people were arrested May 30-31. 

Chris Graves

Author

The killing of George Floyd, 46, of St. Louis Park, who repeatedly told a Minneapolis police officer he couldn’t breathe as the officer knelt on his neck on May 25, sparked mass protests at dozens of cities across the nation and days of widespread looting, fires and destruction in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Here are the details and timeline of the case.

A man and young child kneel in front of a memorial. 

Judy Griesedieck for MPR News 2020 

Evan Frost | MPR News

An illustration of a man hangs in a window. 

Courtesy of Ramsey County Jail 

Liam James Doyle for MPR News

Minnesota National Guard members maintain a position in Minneapolis.

The killing of George Floyd: What we know

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