(Reuters) – Members of the NBA’S Minnesota Timberwolves and Brooklyn Nets wore warm-up T-shirts on Tuesday reading “With liberty and justice FOR ALL” and held a moment of silence for a Black man fatally shot by a police officer in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center.
Daunte Wright, 20, was shot on Sunday during a traffic stop in what the city’s police chief said appeared to be an “accidental discharge” after the officer drew her gun instead of her Taser during a struggle.
The shooting prompted all of Minneapolis’ professional sports teams to postpone play on Monday, including the Timberwolves-Nets game, which was being made up on Tuesday.
“We extend our thoughts and heartfelt sympathies to Daunte’s family, friends and loved ones during this difficult time,” an announcer at Target Center said prior to the tip-off of the game.
The police chief and the officer both tendered their resignations on Tuesday, the city’s mayor said.
The moves followed two nights of protests in the city of 30,000 people just miles from Minneapolis, a city already on edge with the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murdering George Floyd during an arrest last May.
National Basketball Association and Women’s National Basketball Association players have been among the loudest voices calling for an end to police brutality and racial inequality in the United States.
The Nets led the Timberwolves 73-52 at halftime.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Cooney)
