Crime
Boise police: No injuries after shot fired near protesters. Alleged shooter, 18, arrested
A Garden City teenager was arrested after police said a shot was fired in the vicinity of protesters demonstrating on behalf of George Floyd at the State Capitol on Monday night.
Police arrested Michael Daniel Wallace, 18, who was booked into the Ada County Jail early Tuesday morning, according to booking reports. He was released from jail later in the morning.
Wallace was booked on one count of discharging a firearm in city limits, a misdemeanor. Online court records do not show that Wallace had been formally charged as of Tuesday afternoon.
Boise police said in a tweet Monday night that no one was injured in the incident, which is being investigated as an accidental or unintentional discharge. The protest of Floyd’s death continued peacefully, police said. Floyd, a black man from Minneapolis, died last week after a police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes.
Anthony Walsh, founder of social media channel Juice Boise, attended the protest and livestreamed several hours of it, including prior to and following the shot fired.
In a video interview, Walsh told the Statesman that he noticed Wallace earlier in the evening and kept an eye on him because he thought Wallace looked nervous.
“He was pacing and continually putting his finger on the trigger,” Walsh said. “I really felt in my gut, ‘This guy is going to do something stupid.’”
A Facebook Live video Walsh posted prior to the shot being fired appears to show Wallace, wearing a black bandanna with a skull on it over the lower half of his face, walking back and forth on the sidewalk south of Jefferson while holding a rifle in his right hand.
“I respect his right to bear arms,” said Walsh, adding that his father carries concealed weapons. “But (my dad) always said, ‘You don’t put your finger on the trigger unless you intend to use it.’”
Walsh wasn’t recording when the shot was fired, but he told the Statesman that some counter-protesters had crossed Jefferson to the Statehouse plaza shortly beforehand and began yelling at those protesting Floyd’s death.
He said that when the shot was fired, Wallace was holding his rifle at his side, pointed at the ground. Walsh said he dropped to the ground along with many others. Immediately afterward, Walsh said, other counter-protesters approached Wallace and told him to drop the weapon, and nearby police officers also approached.
“I think (Wallace) was just as nervous (as the Floyd protesters), and I’m pretty sure he regrets what happened,” Walsh said. “He did immediately drop the weapon and drop to the ground with his hands in the air.”
Protesters held multiple rallies at the Capitol over the weekend and Monday to speak out against racism and police brutality after Floyd’s death. A vigil is planned for Tuesday evening, and Boise Mayor Lauren McLean and Boise Police Department acting chief Ron Winegar held a news conference Tuesday afternoon to say they would ensure the gathering would be safe and peaceful.
Winegar addressed the shot fired incident during the news conference.
““Yes, there was an incident last night involving the firing of a weapon,” Winegar said. “It does not appear that that was intended to harm anyone, although there is some discrepancy on whether it was intentional. In response to that act, there was an arrest made last night of the individual who fired the weapon.”
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