Kim Potter, the Brooklyn Center police officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright, has resigned. According to local Minnesota outlet WCCO, the police union representing the Brooklyn Center Police Department announced Potter’s resignation on Tuesday (April 13). The 26-year veteran of the department, and former president of the union, also wrote a resignation letter addressed to the mayor and police chief.
“I am tendering my resignation from the Brooklyn Center Police Department effective immediately,” Potter wrote in the letter. “I have loved every minute of being a police officer and serving this community to the best of my ability, but I believe it is in the best interest of the community, the department and my fellow officers if I resign immediately.”
Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon has also stepped down.
“We’re hoping that we’re turning over a new leaf now,” Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott said in a press conference on Tuesday (April 13).
As reported by REVOLT, Potter was identified as the officer who fatally shot Wright on Sunday (April 11) by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. She was put on administrative leave after the shooting, which the bureau said is the department’s standard practice.
According to The Star Tribune, Potter served on the department’s negotiation team and was a longtime member of the Law Enforcement Memorial Association. In 2019, she was one of the first officers to arrive on the scene after police fatally shot Kobe Dimock-Heisler.
At the time, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office found that Potter instructed the two officers involved in the shooting to “exit the residence, get into separate squad cars, turn off their body worn cameras and to not talk to each other.” Both officers were later cleared of any wrongdoing in the incident.
On Monday (April 12), Gannon described the shooting as “an accidental discharge” and said Potter meant to fire her taser instead of her handgun at Wright.
“This appears to me, from what I’ve viewed and the officer’s reaction and distress immediately after, that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Wright,” Gannon said.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner ruled Wright’s death a homicide and said he passed away from a gunshot wound to his chest. See Potter’s resignation letter below.