Over 7,200 people arrested in 43 U.S. cities this weekend, CBS News review finds
More than 7,200 people were arrested in 43 cities across the country as a result of civil unrest stemming from protests on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, a CBS News review of arrests has found. Charges included burglary, arson, aggravated assault, rioting, looting, defacing public property and violating curfew.
There were protests throughout the country over the weekend stemming from the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The Department of Homeland Security issued an alert on Thursday warning that violent protest movements will grow and domestic violent extremists and others will seek to take over government facilities and attack law enforcement, a law enforcement source told CBS News senior investigative reporter Pat Milton.
While a number of local officials said they felt the violence was started by people coming in from outside areas, none of the cities that reported that data saw a sizeable number of out of town arrests. In Miami, where local officials told the public that most of the "agitators" were "outsiders," only 9 out of the 92 people arrested had out-of-state addresses.
The three most populous cities in the country — New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — had the most arrests, but those cities did not provide data for "out-of-town" arrests.
In Los Angeles, where Mayor Eric Garcetti imposed a curfew and asked Governor Gavin Newsom to deploy the National Guard, 1,600 people were arrested over the three-day period, the most of any city. Roughly 1,000 guard personnel began arriving overnight Sunday, and Newsom announced Monday an additional 1,100 National Guard troops would deployed to cities throughout the state.
Over 400 people were arrested in neighboring Santa Monica, the police department said.
Chicago had the second-most arrests with 699. Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said the majority of the arrests were for looting, and 461 of those arrests came from the South and West sides, CBS Chicago reported. A total of 132 officers were injured.
There were 48 shootings, 17 people killed and more than 64 guns recovered on Sunday, Brown said. It was not immediately clear how many of those shootings and fatalities were related to the protests.
The Minneapolis Department of Public Safety said there were 481 arrests in the city, where protests first began six days ago. The U.S. Attorney's office said Monday it had charged Illinois resident Matthew Lee Rupert, 28, with causing civil disorder, a riot and possessing unregistered explosive devices. The charges allege Rupert was trying to stoke chaos during Friday night's protests.
There were 398 people arrested in New York City, where a curfew wasn't declared until Monday.
Other cities with arrests included Phoenix, where police said more than 300 were arrested, Richmond, Virginia, where at least 233 people were arrested, and Dallas, where 191 people were arrested.
At least 40 people were arrested at demonstrations on Sunday in Louisville, Kentucky, where protests have erupted over the death of Breonna Taylor. Taylor was in bed with her boyfriend when three plainclothes police detectives entered her home in March. Gunfire erupted and Taylor was killed.
A black business owner was shot and killed by police Sunday night in Louisville. CBS affiliate WLKY reported police said they were trying to clear a large crowd in a parking lot. But officers body cameras were not activated, and Louisville Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad was fired on Monday and both officers involved were placed on administrative leave.
Michael Kaplan contributed to this report.