Hundreds of people have converged at the Hennepin County Government Center to protest the lack of charges against two Minneapolis officers involved in the fatal shooting of a black man in November.
Some demonstrators initially gathered at the site of the Nov. 15 shooting of 24-year-old Jamar Clark in north Minneapolis. Others gathered at a park on the southeast side of downtown.
The two groups marched through downtown and met at the government building, where earlier in the day a prosecutor announced that Officer Mark Ringgenberg and Officer Dustin Schwarze would not face criminal charges. Both officers are white.
The demonstrators have been chanting as they marched and carrying signs that say "Justice for Jamar" and "Black Lives Matter."
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Wednesday that the officers feared for their lives and used necessary deadly force in the shooting of 24-year-old Jamar Clark. Some activists at Freeman's news conference shouted at the prosecutor, saying he leaned too heavily on the official version of events and discounted bystander accounts.
Freeman told KSTP-TV it's easy to think officers are lying about what happened. But he says their story is backed up by "hardcore forensic evidence." Freeman said Clark's DNA on the butt of one officer's gun and all over his utility belt supports the police account of a struggle and Clark getting his hand on an officer's weapon.
Freeman also rejected one activist's statement that he can forget about re-election. Freeman says he'll run again and win.
