Name: Vandals smash windows at end of night of protests over deaths of George Floyd, Dion Johnson
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Vandals smash windows at end of night of protests over deaths of George Floyd, Dion Johnson

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Arizona RepublicView CommentsPhoenix was bracing for another night of protests Friday over the death of a black man in Minnesota and the fatal shooting of a black man by an Arizona&nbsp;Department of Public Safety trooper.For the past few days, cities across the country have seen protests over&nbsp;the death of George Floyd.&nbsp;On Thursday, a protest in Phoenix ran parallel to ones in Memphis, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and other cities.In Phoenix, and&nbsp;officers&nbsp;fired rubber bullets&nbsp;into the&nbsp;crowd later in the night.The protests continued Friday after former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin was arrested&nbsp;days after video circulated of him holding his knee to George Floyd's neck for more than eight minutes before Floyd died.Another demonstration was called in Phoenix on Friday night&nbsp;after&nbsp;Dion Johnson was fatally shot by a DPS trooper. Johnson, who was a black man, was sleeping in his parked vehicle along Loop 101 at Tatum Boulevard around 5:30 a.m. when a trooper contacted him. The officer said there was a "struggle" which&nbsp;led to a shooting. the trooper was not wearing a body-worn camera. He has only been identified as&nbsp;a 54-year-old man with 15 years of service with the department, officials said. The incident is still under investigation by Phoenix police.&nbsp;Organizers described Friday night's scheduled protest at the DPS headquarters near&nbsp;22nd Avenue and Encanto Boulevard as a vigil for Johnson.The line of police pushed protesters out into the nearby streets of downtown Phoenix.Along Washington Street, protesters smashed through the windows of a Phoenix municipal building and threw fireworks inside. Tires on Phoenix police cruisers were also slashed and the back windows smashed.Police remained behind the barricade despite the declaration of an unlawful assembly. Protesters were seen kneeling and linking arms in a line outside the barricade.Others sporadically threw objects past the line at Phoenix police, prompting them to fire nonlethal rounds into the air.Police fired multiple smoke bombs into the crowds. Some protesters sent fireworks into the air. The crowd began to scatter away from the Phoenix police building shortly after.A line of police then entered the street, causing protesters to push back even more into the nearby streets.Both Tucson and Phoenix police declared an unlawful assembly in their respective cities shortly before 11 p.m.&nbsp;The order was repeated by officers on the ground, and on Twitter.Tucson Mayor Regina Romero urged protesters to stop property damage and to demonstrate peacefully in a tweet."Our hearts are hurting at the needless murder of yet another black HUMAN BEING. We’re upset. Rightfully so," she wrote. "However, this does NOT justify harming small businesses that are already suffering during these difficult times.""Please, honor the life of #GeorgeFloyd by demonstrating PEACEFULLY," Romero continued. "Justice for George Floyd must be served. Causing property damage and inflicting harm on our fellow Tucsonans is not the way we accomplish this.Renee Holloway and dozens of others sat peacefully in the street outside the Phoenix Police Department. Holloway was already outside Phoenix police headquarters when the march arrived.“I’ve got nephews. I’ve got cousins. We’re not making it up. It’s happening. Something has to be done,” she said when asked what drew her to the protest.Holloway urged protesters to remain calm.“It has to be peaceful because they won’t listen. They won’t listen,” she said.As she sat in the closed street, Holloway added: “This is how we make a difference. We sit quietly. We get together. And we make them listen.”Most protesters appeared relatively peaceful outside Phoenix police headquarters, but some launched plastic water bottles at officers standing behind the barrier surrounding the building.Anti-police graffiti marked concrete barriers and pillars outside the Sandra Day O'Connor&nbsp;U.S. Courthouse&nbsp;across the street.Police have not declared a non-lethal assembly.&nbsp;Protests appeared to escalate in Tucson late Friday night. The windows of multiple businesses were smashed in, and flaming dumpsters were pushed into the middle of the streets of downtown Tucson.Hundreds of protesters held their positions outside Phoenix police headquarters despite countless orders to disperse. Police in full riot gear stayed behind a waist-high barricade surrounding the building, repeatedly airing the message to disperse over a loudspeaker.&nbsp;It's unclear what move either party will take next.Phoenix police announced over a loudspeaker that protesters need to "disperse immediately."&nbsp;Phoenix police also posted a tweet ordering demonstrators to disperse.&nbsp;Loud booms pierced the air, along with what appeared to be riot gas.The group did not appear to disperse despite numerous orders from the police.&nbsp;Multiple protesters were on their knees with their fists in the air, in what appeared to be a peaceful stance. Others sat on the ground with their middle fingers displayed in a sign of protest.Protests also took place in Tucson and Flagstaff Friday. Flagstaff's demonstration was relatively peaceful, but protesters continued to gather late Friday night in Tucson.&nbsp;Hundreds of protesters reached Phoenix police headquarters after marching nearly two miles from East Lake Park.Numerous officers exited the building in full riot gear within minutes of protesters' arrival. Multiple non-lethal warning shots were fired as bottles were thrown as the officers.Protesters continued to move through down Washington Street, seemingly toward&nbsp;Phoenix police headquarters near Washington Street and Seventh Avenue.They passed by numerous downtown Phoenix restaurants and bars as patrons filmed the protesters, seemingly cheering them on.Phoenix police community action officers followed the protesters.Valley Metro tweeted that Light Rail service was temporarily suspended at a number of nearby downtown&nbsp;platforms.&nbsp;The vigil at East Lake Park wrapped up shortly after 9 p.m.Organizers discouraged attendees from engaging in any violent protesting and instead urged them to go home.“We are not doing that here tonight," one organizer said. "We are not going to cause more pain to the family of Dion Johnson.”While some left, hundreds of protesters began marching west on Washington Street toward 12th Street. Many had their hands in the air and chanted, "I can't breathe,"&nbsp;a phrase Eric Garner repeated moments before he died while an officer held him in a chokehold in New York City in 2014.Phoenix police appeared to be attempting to shut down streets. Some side streets along Washington were blocked off by police cars.&nbsp;It's not clear where the marchers were heading. Some said they should go to the Phoenix police station. However, the downtown station is located more than a mile away.&nbsp;Erma Johnson told reporters Dion was the second-youngest of her five children. He had a 14-year-old daughter.She was wrecked by the news of her son's death.“They came and told me — all I could do was fall. Just fall. I fell and started screaming," she said.When questioned, Erma Johnson said she didn't know why Dion was sleeping in his car on the side of the road.Johnson wants to see the trooper that shot her son fired and prosecuted for his death, she said. She doesn't understand why the trooper shot him instead of using a stun gun or another non-lethal option.“I still respect my officers. I still always will respect them," she said. "But I don’t like the things that they do. I don’t like that the fact that they always resort to a weapon to kill someone. This is not the first time this has happened. It happens all the time. Every day it’s an officer-involved shooting or something. And it’s not right.”About 20 protesters lined the street outside the Phoenix Police Department headquarters in downtown Phoenix. Most stood peacefully with multiple feet of space between them, silently clutching signs as cars drove past.The cracked glass door of the headquarters could be seen behind them&nbsp;— a reminder of Thursday night's protests that escalated to&nbsp;flash grenades, pepper spray and a damaged police car.&nbsp; Dion Johnson's mother, Erma Johnson,&nbsp;spoke to attendees shortly after 8 p.m.She described her son as caring and talented. She said he was always there to help her. She thought he would always be there to take care of her.Instead, she said, police treated him like an animal. She demanded to know the name of the trooper who shot him and that he be fired for her son's murder.Both Johnson's mother and another family member said he never would have engaged in a struggle with police. He would have done whatever he could to avoid confrontation, they said.“I want to know where was his body camera? I want to know why did he not call for back up?" Erma Johnson questioned. "If he was so threatened, why didn’t he call for some backup? It’s a lot of questions that are unanswered. It’s a lot of things that I want to know that happened to my son in the last minutes of his life.”Organizers issued a list of demands, starting with the release of the police report on Johnson's shooting and that his belongings be returned to his family. They also demanded the release of any highway traffic camera footage depicting the shooting and the name of the trooper.&nbsp;They closed out the list with the demand that the trooper who shot Dion be fired from DPS and charged with his killing.&nbsp;The crowd size appeared to pass 300 people shortly before 8 p.m. However, some estimates were significantly more than that.&nbsp;Speakers repeatedly urged attendees to "not go rogue" to avoid jeopardizing the "family's chance at justice."Dozens filled an amphitheater in East Lake Park despite the 106-degree temperatures. At the start of the protest, organizers for Black Lives Matter Phoenix said they were fighting "two pandemics.""A pandemic of COVID-19 and a pandemic of racism which has been part of America since its founding," she said.&nbsp;Protesters clutched signs decrying the deaths of Johnson and Floyd."We sleep. We die. Justice 4 Dion!" one read. Organizers say Johnson was sleeping when he was approached by the DPS trooper who ultimately shot him.One speaker questioned why the trooper didn't have a body camera on before the crowd broke into a chant of "black lives matter." Currently, DPS troopers aren't equipped with body-worn cameras.The organizers of Friday's gathering from Black Lives Matter Phoenix are not associated with those who organized Thursday's march. In the Facebook event, they stated the family wants a "peaceful demonstration."&nbsp;Organizers announced the vigil previously scheduled to start at 7 p.m. outside the Department of Public Safety headquarters would be moved to East Lake Park near 16th and Van Buren streets.&nbsp;Organizers said police attempted to "box" them in by shutting down the surrounding streets."We are having a peaceful vigil to mourn the police violence &amp; still the police are committing more violence against us, attempting [to] instigate us. We will not fall for their trap!" organizers wrote.A few dozen people were gathered outside both locations shortly before 7 p.m.Preparations for another night of expected protests in Phoenix began early Friday evening. Department of Public Safety troopers were seen placing chain-link fencing around the Arizona State Capitol around 5 p.m.Just a few blocks away, the road outside DPS headquarters was blocked off an hour before the 7 p.m. protest was expected to begin. Additional fences and sandbags were placed around the perimeter of the property.Phoenix police tweeted the roads in the area Encanto between Grand and 19th avenues may be closed "while demonstrators exercise their First Amendment rights."A handful of protesters were also spotted outside the Phoenix Police Department headquarters in downtown Phoenix.View Comments

Arizona RepublicView CommentsPhoenix was bracing for another night of protests Friday over the death of a black man in Minnesota and the fatal shooting of a black man by an Arizona&nbsp;Department of Public Safety trooper.For the past few days, cities across the country have seen protests over&nbsp;the death of George Floyd.&nbsp;On Thursday, a protest in Phoenix ran parallel to ones in Memphis, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and other cities.In Phoenix, and&nbsp;officers&nbsp;fired rubber bullets&nbsp;into the&nbsp;crowd later in the night.The protests continued Friday after former Minneapolis...

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BrieAnna J. Frank

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Vandals smash windows at end of night of protests over deaths of George Floyd, Dion Johnson

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