George Floyd protest live updates: Funeral to be held June 9 in Houston; Death ruled homicide; crowd tear-gassed near White House
George Floyd's funeral will be held June 9 in Houston. Prior to next week's event, separate memorial services in Minnesota and North Carolina will be held. Former boxing champion Floyd Mayweather will pay the expenses of all three events after the former boxing champion's offer of assistance was accepted by the family.
It was another day of protests accross the country. Moments after police in riot gear tried to disperse a crowd of peaceful protesters at Lafayette Square across from the White House, President Donald Trump said the civil disturbances that have erupted across the nation since George Floyd's killing on Memorial Day would be quelled.
Under heavy protection, Trump and several members of his administration, including Attorney General William Barr, walked across the park to St. John's Church and posed for photos before returning to the White House.
Earlier in the day, Floyd's relatives demanded further punishment for those involved in his death after an independent autopsy requested by the family concluded he was killed by asphyxiation from sustained pressure. The Hennepin County medical examiner later ruled the death a homicide.
A closer look at some recent developments:
George Floyd's funeral will be held on June 9 in Houston, Texas.
Attorney General William Barr has deployed federal riot teams to Washington, D.C., and Miami in an attempt to quell violent clashes between protesters and police.
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo apologized to Floyd's family Sunday, saying that firing Chauvin and the other three officers involved in the Memorial Day confrontation was the right thing to do.
What we're reading today: How did we get here? A timeline of events leading up to the nationwide outcry against Floyd's death.
Our live blog will be updated throughout the day. For first-in-the-morning updates, sign up for the Daily Briefing. Here's the latest news:
Floyd's funeral to be held June 9 in Houston
Family attorney Benjamin Crump on Monday said funeral services for Floyd will be held June 9 in Houston. There will be a public viewing next Monday in Texas, Crump said.
Crump added there will be two separate memorial services for Floyd. One will take place Thursday in Minneapolis at North Central University. The other will be in Clinton, North Carolina on Saturday. Both memorial services will run from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m.
Boxer Floyd Mayweather will pay for Floyd's funeral and memorial services after the family accepted his offer of support. The former world champion has not met Floyd's family, according to Leonard Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather Promotions.
Protesters tear-gassed as Trump vows to end riots
Calling himself "your president of law and order,'' President Donald Trump vowed to put an end to the disturbances that have broken out in many parts of the country following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis a week ago.
"As we speak, I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults and the wanton destruction of property,'' Trump said in a brief late-afternoon statement at the Rose Garden.
Before Trump and his aides walked across Lafayette Park, police pushed away a crowd of protesters -- many of them holding up their hands and saying, "Don't shoot'' -- using shields, horses and tear gas to disperse them.
Trump's address came as hundreds of demonstrators surrounded the White House grounds for the fourth day of protests in Washington, D.C.
Family autopsy shows Floyd suffocated; death ruled homicide
An autopsy conducted Sunday at the request of George Floyd's relatives showed he suffocated to death because of neck and back pressure that cut off blood flow to his brain and kept him from breathing, a statement by the family lawyers said.
The family is demanding first-degree murder charges against Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is shown on a video pressing his knee against Floyd's neck for more than eight minutes, and the arrest of the other three officers at the scene.
“What we found is consistent with what people saw. There is no other health issue that could cause or contribute to the death,” Dr. Michael Baden, one of the forensic pathologists hired by the family, said in the statement. “Police have this false impression that if you can talk, you can breathe. That’s not true.”
Floyd is heard on the video repeatedly saying he couldn't breathe.
"The independent examiners found that weight on the back, handcuffs and positioning were contributory factors because they impaired the ability of Mr. Floyd’s diaphragm to function,'' the statement says. "From all the evidence, the doctors said it now appears Mr. Floyd died at the scene.''
The Hennepin County medical examiner classified the death as a homicide and said Floyd had a "cardiopulmonary arrest while being restrained by law enforcement officer(s).'' The report also noted "fentanyl intoxication'' and "recent methamphetamine use'' detected on Floyd.
Two Atlanta police officers have been fired after being accused of excessive use of force during a George Floyd protest.
President Donald Trump said he would designate antifa as a terror organization and blamed the group for violence at George Floyd protests.
Floyd's brother calls for peaceful protests
Wearing a mask that read "We can't breathe'' on one half and "Justice for George Floyd'' on the other, his brother Terrence Floyd on Monday exhorted demonstrators in Minneapolis to keep his memory alive but to protest in a peaceful manner.
Terrence Floyd chastised those responsible for the violence and looting that have marred many of the protests over his brother's Memorial Day death while in the custody of Minneapolis police, saying those acts didn't accomplish anything positive.
"My family is a peaceful family. My family is God-fearing,'' Terrence Floyd told a crowd, pointing out rioters may be destroying their own communities. "Let's do this another way.''
Floyd urged those in attendance at a makeshift memorial to learn about the candidates for public office and to get out and vote.
"Educate yourselves. Don't wait for somebody else to tell you who's who,'' Floyd said. "Educate yourself and know who you're voting for. That's how we're going to help. It's a lot of us! ... Let's switch it up and do this peacefully.''
The crowd, which had earlier chanted, "Lock them all four!'' in reference to the four police officers at the scene of George Floyd's killing, later changed to a different chant with a similar message: "One down, three to go.''
Though all four officers have been fired, only Derek Chauvin has been arrested and charged with murder.
Trump derides governors as 'weak': 'You have to arrest people'
President Donald Trump slammed the nation’s governors Monday as “weak” and demanded tougher crackdowns on protesters following another night of violence. Trump spoke to governors on a video teleconference with law enforcement and national security officials, telling the local leaders they “have to get much tougher” amid nationwide protests and criticizing their responses.
“Most of you are weak,” Trump said. “You have to arrest people.”
More than 4,400 hundred arrests have been made across the nation in sometimes-violent protests since George Floyd's death on Memorial Day.
Disturbing sight: Vehicles ramming protesters
The sight of vehicles ramming into crowds of protesters in at least three major cities has added a disturbing element that further stoked tensions during demonstrations over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
In New York, two police vehicles drove into protesters behind a barricade. Demonstrators in Denver chased a black SUV after a woman drove through a crowd and accelerated as a man hopped on the hood. A semi-truck driver was arrested after video showed the truck driving into a crowd of peaceful demonstrators in Minneapolis on Interstate 35, which had been closed to traffic.
It's unclear how many vehicles were aimed at demonstrators, but witnesses said that the incidents seemed intentional and that the drivers accelerated as they went through the crowds.
-- Ryan W. Miller
Louisville police chief fired after another killing
Greg Fischer, mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, said Monday that Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad has been fired in the wake of the law-enforcement killing of the owner of a barbecue establishment. Fischer also said a nightly curfew from 9 p.m.-to-6:30 a.m. has been extended to June 8.
Gov. Andy Beshear ordered Kentucky State Police to investigate the fatal shooting by police and National Guard personnel. The man killed was David McAtee, owner of a barbecue business next to a food mart parking lot where the shooing took place, according to his nephew.
Police and National Guard troops, who have been monitoring protests, were breaking up a "large crowd" in the food mart's parking lot around 12:15 a.m. local time Monday when someone shot at them, Conrad said. They returned fire, killing McAtee. No one else was injured.
-- Billy Kobin, Louisville Courier Journal
Protests may lead to coronavirus outbreaks
Protests can be "breeding grounds'' for the coronavirus, said Harvard University epidemiologist Dr. Michael Mina, among the health experts concerned that the close proximity among demonstrators could lead to more cases of COVID-19.
Focus on the disease has diminished lately as media focus has shifted to the widespread riots sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. However, the virus remains a major threat, and it's more likely to spread among people not wearing masks and standing close to each other, as has often been the case at protests.
"There's no doubt in my mind that these can become breeding grounds for this virus," Mina said. "I would not be surprised to see in the next couple of weeks that we see increases that may be linked to protests."
Ken Alltucker and Karen Weintraub
Chicago mayor: Violence, looting 'spread like a wildfire'
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday vehemently denied claims that she protected the city's downtown area at the expense of neighborhoods devastated by looting and vandalism Sunday night.
Chicago officials, stung by nights of violence, had shut down most streets and transit headed downtown Sunday. Several city aldermen called on Lightfoot to increase National Guard numbers to 3,000, from the current 375, and to send them into neighborhoods. Chicago Police Supt. David Brown has said his officers are better suited for community duty. Lightfoot said she "did not stand by and let the South and West sides burn."
“The fact is that the violence that we saw and the looting that we saw spread like a wildfire," she said.
Police chiefs must hold officers accountable, law enforcement group says
George Floyd's death was "unnecessary, avoidable and criminal," the Major Cities Chiefs Association said in a statement Monday. The group, whose members include police executives from the largest cities in the United States and Canada, says it can be honest about its law enforcement history dating back over two centuries "that has included institutional racism" including violence against African Americans seeking equal rights. The statement says every major city chief must take every action "within their legal authority" to hold officers accountable.
"We need to hear what America is telling us right now," the statement said. "We need to take bold and courageous action to change the narrative of our history as it relates to the disparate impact and outcomes that policing has had – and continues to have – on African Americans, people of color and the disenfranchised."
Federal riot teams sent to Washington after damage near White House
Riot teams are being sent to Washington, D.C, and Miami from the federal Bureau of Prisons. The FBI also has directed its elite Hostage Rescue Unit to help in D.C., a senior Justice Department official said Monday.The federal prison riot team arrived in Miami on Sunday.
A weekend of rioting in the nation’s capital left deep scars in the shadow of the White House and across the city where 88 people have been arrested, while dozens of law enforcement officers were injured, including Secret Service agents.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced a 7 p.m. curfew Monday. She said significant damage was done around the White House on Sunday. There was also a fire at the historic St. John's Church across from the White House.
– Kevin Johnson
In New York: Police cars burn, no curfew planned, mayor's daughter arrested
Setting a curfew in New York City to help curb violent protests would be a pointless exercise doomed to failure, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said Monday.
Police cars burned and several officers were injured in clashes Sunday night, the fourth consecutive night of violence in the city. Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose daughter Chiara was among almost 1,000 people arrested since Thursday, said NYPD officers "showed restraint" amid the mayhem.
De Blasio also downplayed the value of a curfew. Shea, speaking on the "Today" show, said a curfew would be ignored and extremely difficult to enforce.
“The problem is, people need to listen to a curfew and that’s not going to happen," Shea said. "And if people think it will, they don’t understand what’s going on."
More news about the George Floyd protests
Resources, ways to donate: How you can take action from home after the death of George Floyd
Consoler in chief or confronter in chief? Combination of crises tests Trump's leadership
Covering Floyd protests: Journalists blinded, injured, arrested
Their stores were burned, ransacked and looted. What's next for Minneapolis-area small business owners who lost everything?
The birth of the #WalkWithUs movement: Local leaders join George Floyd protesters across US in a show of solidarity.
Journalists attacked by officers, protesters
As protests across the nation turn violent, members of the news media have been caught in the crossfire – or targeted. The Committee to Protect Journalists said it is investigating reports of attacks and arrests in Louisville, Kentucky, Las Vegas, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.
In Iowa on Sunday, police arrested reporter Andrea Sahouri of the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network, on charges of failure to disperse while she was covering a demonstration that turned violent. Sahouri said police sprayed her in the face with pepper spray after she identified herself as a member of the media. "I'm press. I'm press. I'm press," she said she told police.
Carlos Martínez de la Serna, program director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said targeted attacks on journalists covering the demonstrations "show a complete disregard for their critical role in documenting issues of public interest and are an unacceptable attempt to intimidate them."
– Lorenzo Reyes
3 dead in confrontations with authorities in Kentucky, Iowa
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear authorized state police to conduct an independent investigation after Louisville Metro Police and National Guard personnel fatally shot a man early Monday. Police Chief Steve Conrad said someone in the group gathered after the 9 p.m. curfew fired at the law enforcement personnel, who returned fire.
In Davenport, Iowa, two people were killed in multiple shootings after rioting broke out, the police chief said at a news conference Monday. Chief Paul Sikorski said police responded Sunday night to disturbances near a mall involving 100 vehicles and "rioters." Over the next several hours, police responded to dozens of confirmed shots-fired incidents, including one where officers were ambushed and one was shot, Sikorski said. One officer was shot, one officer returned fire and several rounds hit the officers' vehicle.
"They were not like they protests and demonstrations Saturday," Sikorski said. "What we experienced tonight, last night was completely unacceptable and it does not honor the memory of Mr. Floyd."
– Philip Joens, Des Moines Register; Billy Kobin, Louisville Courier Journal
2 Atlanta officers fired, accused of excessive force against protesters
Atlanta officials fired two police officers and placed three on desk duty pending review over the alleged use of excessive force against protesters in a clash Saturday night. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said she saw a video, which she called "disturbing," of five officers pulling two college students out of a car downtown. Bottoms and police Chief Erika Shields made the announcement at a press conference after reviewing body-camera footage.
"We understand that our officers are working very long hours under an enormous amount of stress," Bottoms said. "But we also understand that the use of excessive force is never acceptable."
– Jessica Flores
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: George Floyd: Funeral next week; Death is homicide; Trump decries riots
