Protesters paused their efforts to honor the wishes of the Minneapolis Urban League and Clark’s family, who asked that demonstrations be put on hold Wednesday for the service.
he league called for a day of mourning and peace after a day of anger and shock gripped the north Minneapolis community. On Monday night, five protesters were shot near the Black Lives Matter demonstration.
“The family of Jamar Clark has been traumatized by the violent manner of his loss, the absence of information or explanation for the shooting and the challenge of navigating their grief amid the glare of media attention and among competing political agendas,” Steven Belton, the league’s interim president, said in a statement. “They have called for peace and a cessation of protests for Jamar’s sake and the safety of the community.”
Belton asked protesters to end the vigil outside the 4th Precinct and allow the federal and local investigations to move forward. Lena Gardner, an organizer with Black Lives Matter Minneapolis, said that the group had no protests or rallies planned for Wednesday.
At the visitation, leaflets shared details about Clark, who was the youngest of 10 children and liked to swim, fish, listen to music and take trips to Charlotte, N.C.
“As a child, Jamar was always full of energy and had a big smile,” the leaflet reads. Clark lay in an open charcoal casket at the ceremony.
More than 300 people including Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., arrived at the temple to mourn Clark and show support for the family. State Sen. Bobby Joe Champion and former Minneapolis Mayors R.T. Rybak and Sharon Sayles Belton were also in attendance.
Clark’s family members wore white T-shirts that read, “I Matter.” Clark’s cousin, Cameron Clark, hobbled into the service on crutches. He was one of the five protesters shot Monday night.
Speakers thanked the protesters at the 4th Precinct for bringing about change and leading to the release of the names of the officers involved in Clark’s death.
“Jamar your life did and does have purpose,” Shiloh Bishop Richard D. Howell Jr. said at the funeral. “Your death is not in vain. We will fight with the tools you have provided.”
Mayor Betsy Hodges was not present at the funeral. Clark’s older brother, James Hill, said Hodges sent her condolences for not attending the funeral adding that he wanted her to hold the officers accountable.
“We just want her to do her job,” Hill said.
A line of protesters stretched down the street with their fists raised in the air in solidarity as the funeral procession passed the 4th Precinct. Family and friends stopped in front of the precinct to acknowledge the protesters. Protesters then huddled in a circle for a moment of silence for Clark.
On Tuesday, nearly 1,000 people marched to City Hall in the aftermath of Monday night’s shooting.
Minneapolis police said Tuesday that they arrested three men in connection with the shooting. Allen Lawrence “Lance” Scarsella III, 23, was arrested in Bloomington. Sources said Nathan Gustavsson, 21, of Hermantown, and Daniel Macey, 26, of Pine City, were arrested after they turned themselves in. All three suspects are white. Earlier Tuesday, police arrested a 32-year-old Hispanic man in south Minneapolis, but he was later released because, police said, he was not at the scene of the shooting.
Authorities are weighing whether to treat Monday’s shooting as a hate crime, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
In a video message posted on Facebook, Hodges said she “abhors” Monday night’s violence and that “those attacks have no place in our city.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau on Twitter called the officers “true professionals” and noted that “MPD worked nonstop through the night to bring justice in last night’s shooting.” She did not comment further on the shooting Tuesday.
The gunfire erupted around 10:45 p.m. Monday on Morgan Avenue North about a block north of the precinct station where protesters have staged demonstrations and camped out since Nov. 15, when police fatally shot Clark, who was unarmed.
Miski Noor, a media contact for Black Lives Matter, said “a group of white supremacists showed up at the protest, as they have done most nights.”
When about a dozen protesters attempted to herd the group away from the area, Noor said, they “opened fire on about six protesters,” hitting five of them. The victims – all black men ages 19 through 43 – were taken to hospitals. Their injuries were not life threatening.
In a subsequent incident early Wednesday morning, police responded to a “shots fired” activation from the city’s ShotSpotter equipment in the area near the 4th Precinct. The report, at 12:40 a.m., came from near the 1300 blocks of Newton and Morgan Avenues North. Nobody was injured and suspects were stopped and identified by officers. One man was booked into jail. A department spokesman said he doesn’t know if the shots were connected to the protesters.
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