EXCLUSIVE: Daunte Wright, the 20-year-old Minnesota man who was killed in a police-involved shooting in April, recorded a selfie video of himself playing with a handgun in a woman’s bathroom shortly before he allegedly shoved the weapon in her face and robbed her.
The 13-second clip, obtained by Fox News, shows Wright aiming the gun at the camera and at his own head, with the sound of running water in the background. Police found it on his phone during their investigation, according to court documents.
Wright and an 18-year-old friend were charged with aggravated robbery in December 2019 after he allegedly pointed the gun at the woman, reached into her clothing, choked her, and demanded she hand over $820 in cash he knew she had tucked into her bra because her rent was due.
Wright was later accused of violating the terms of his release in the robbery case, and that’s why he had a warrant out for his arrest when police pulled him over on April 11.
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Bodycam video shows that he broke out of an officer’s grip, jumped back into his car, and started to drive away before former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter shot him. His death prompted weeks of protests and led to first- and second-degree manslaughter charges against Potter.
Brooklyn Center is a small city just north of Minneapolis.
A supplemental police report in the robbery case, also obtained by Fox News, identified Wright as a "documented LOUD PACK gang member."
The alleged accomplice, Emajay Driver, had gone to high school with the victim and was invited over to the apartment she shared with a roommate the night before at around 10 p.m., according to the police report. He brought Wright, whom the victim had not met previously.
The group drank and smoked marijuana, listening to music and "hanging out" until around 2:30 a.m., when the young women asked Wright and Driver to leave, according to court documents.
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They said they couldn’t find a ride, and the victim let them sleep on her floor.
The next morning, her roommate handed over her half of the rent, which the visitors saw her tuck into her bra.
Wright allegedly told Driver he didn’t have to work that day and that they should "hit some stains," slang for robbing people, according to the police report.
The roommate left for work, and once the victim was alone in the apartment, Wright allegedly tried to rob her but left empty-handed. Wright and Driver were arrested five days later.
Wright later was said to have violated the terms of his release by allegedly waving a handgun in public in Minneapolis.
When police pulled him over in April, they found a warrant for that incident and tried to arrest him.
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Video from Potter’s bodycam shows Wright surrounded by police officers. He broke free from their grip, jumped into the driver’s seat of his car and shifted it into gear.
"Taser! Taser!" Potter yells in the video, even as she pulls out her handgun and fires a single shot, which struck Wright. She has maintained that she meant to use her Taser.
The car crashed up the road. Wright died and a passenger was injured.
Police had initially pulled him over for expired license tags and an air freshener improperly placed in his rearview mirror, but officers found the warrant when they ran his license.
Potter originally faced a second-degree manslaughter charge, but Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced the additional first-degree charge last Thursday. The more serious charge would carry a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
Wright's estate also faces a pair of posthumous civil lawsuits alleging that he shot two other people.
One of them, Caleb Livingston, has been in a "vegetative state" since Wright allegedly shot him in the head in 2019, according to one lawsuit. The other alleged victim, a former classmate named Joshua Hodges, has alleged that Wright and an accomplice shot him in the leg and stole his car just weeks before the Potter incident.
Driver was convicted in connection with the robbery in December 2020, according to court documents, and the charges against Wright were dismissed after his death.
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The legal team for Wright’s family, led by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, described the posthumous civil complaints as "character assassination."
Livingston’s family has set up a GoFundMe campaign to help out with his medical costs.
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