After a night of protests and vandalism April 11 in Brooklyn Center following the police-involved, traffic-stop death of a Black man, and amid tension of a trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd, Archbishop Bernard Hebda urged people to pause and pray for justice and peace.

“I hope that as a community we might be able to pause and pray, particularly during this time of already heightened tension due to the Chauvin trial,” the archbishop said in an April 12 statement. “I am encouraged and inspired by the pleas for peace that have continued to come from the family of George Floyd.”

At a news conference April 12, Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said it appeared from police body camera video that the officer, whose name was not released, accidentally fired her gun while intending to use her Taser.

Police said Daunte Wright, 20, was hit by a single bullet. Stopped by officers because the car he was in had expired registration tags, three officers at the car found Wright had an outstanding warrant, asked him to exit the vehicle and proceeded to arrest him. He struggled with the officers and re-entered the vehicle. One of the officers, identified by state officials as Kimberly Potter, a 26-year veteran with Brooklyn Center police, called out “Taser, Taser, Taser,” the car drove forward and Potter said “Holy — I just shot him.” Wright drove the car several blocks and crashed into another vehicle. Wright died. Potter and Gannon resigned April 13.

The 2 p.m. incident triggered confrontations April 11 and April 12 with police and looting in the city. The Minnesota National Guard and State Patrol were called to assist Brooklyn Center police officers. A dusk-to-dawn curfew was ordered April 12 in four counties that included Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis and St. Paul. Forty protesters were arrested in Brooklyn Center that evening.

St. Alphonsus Church, about three miles away from the incident, and its immediate neighborhood was largely peaceful, but vandals hit a mini-mall about two blocks away, causing some damage, said Redemptorist Father John Schmidt, pastor.

The parish school was closed to in-person learning April 12 and April 13, as were Brooklyn Center public schools.

A pastoral council meeting set for 6:30 p.m. April 13 will include discussion of the parish’s response to the shooting and resulting violence, Father Schmidt said.

“I’d really like (the parish) to spend some time in prayer,” Father Schmidt said.

Father John Klockeman, pastor of St. Gerard Majella in neighboring Brooklyn Park, said he and parishioners were praying for all involved, for peace in the streets and among neighbors. “As a multi-racial parish, I do see, and our parishioners see, the importance that faith plays and mutual interaction and mutual understanding can play in building up a strong and healthy, trusting community,” he said.

In his statement, Archbishop Hebda offered his condolences to Wright’s family and friends “for the loss of their son, father, brother and friend. I have also been praying for his eternal repose, for his family and for all those who loved him. Daunte was created by God in his image and likeness and for a ‘definite purpose,’ as St. John Henry Newman wrote, and we grieve the loss of his young life.

“I also am praying for the Brooklyn Center Police Officer involved in the shooting, and for her family and friends. I suspect that they are grieving in a different way.”

The archbishop said early indications point toward the shooting being accidental, but he encouraged people to allow investigators to complete their work before coming to any personal judgments as to what occurred.

“As I did last month when the trial (Chauvin’s trial) began, I ask that all of us take time daily to pray for justice, but also for peace in our families and in our communities,” the archbishop said.