As Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said at a press conference, the shooting on Sunday of Daunte Wright, a Black man, by one of his police officers could not have come at a worse time. With the Derek Chauvin trial in full swing, tension between the police and the black community is high.

This shooting, based on the information available, seems senseless. Wright was pulled over for a traffic stop. A routine check revealed he had an outstanding warrant for a gross misdemeanor. As he got back into his car to apparently pull away, an officer yelled she was going to use her Taser. Instead, she had her gun in hand, and “accidentally” shot Wright, according to the police chief.

A night of violence and destruction in Brooklyn Center, a scene we have seen too much in the past year, led to calling out National Guard troops to bolster riot-equipped police, curfews in the Twin Cities, and the postponement of several events.

We hope this spasm of violence won’t be repeated in Brooklyn Center or anywhere else in the state. And we hope police shootings like this one don’t happen again.