It has been revealed that murdered man George Floyd had previously worked with his killer, and they potentially knew each other. It was stated by a former nightclub owner, Maya Santamaria, that both men worked together at the same time at the El Nuevo Rodeo club as doormen up until a few months ago. Santamaria said:
“Chauvin was our off-duty police for almost the entirety of the 17 years that we were open. They were working together at the same time, it’s just that Chauvin worked outside and the security guards were inside.”
While the men certainly worked together, the club is large and could employ up to 12 doormen on any given night. Investigators will now be looking at whether the men knowing each other could in any way affect their understanding of the killing, any whether the fact they possibly knew each other could reflect a deeper motive.
Santamaria herself stated that she did not realise the two men were employees until it was told to her by another individual. Her business was sold some months ago.
“My friend sent me (the video) and said this is your guy who used to work for you and I said, ‘It’s not him.’ And then they did the closeup and that’s when I said, ‘Oh my God, that’s him.’ I didn’t recognize George as one of our security guys because he looked really different lying there like that.” she explains.
A charge of third-degree murder has now been placed on the officer Derek Chauvin, and the other 3 officers are also under investigation.
Cities across the United States were rocked by disorder two nights ago in response to the killing, with the CNN headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, coming under siege. Elsewhere a CNN news crew was arrested and later released, while another local news crew was shot at by police with non-lethal bullets despite clearly being part of the press. Seven people were shot in Kentucky while protesting the police killing of Breonna Taylor, and one man was shot dead in Detroit.
Right-wing news pundit Carl Tucker on Fox News denounced the protests saying:
“Rioting is one thing you don’t want. Ugly opinions, police brutality, officious birdwatchers, rude entitled ladies walking their dogs in big city parks—all of that is bad, but none of it is nearly as bad as what you just saw.”
It does beg the question, however, as to why Tucker became so enraged over the rioting and property damage but not over the killing of Floyd or Taylor themselves.
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