Residents near Brooklyn Center Police Dept. call for city assistance after protests

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Protesters light fireworks outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department on the fourth night of protests following the police shooting of Daunte Wright. (FOX 9)

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (FOX 9) - They thought living near a police department would make them feel safer, but residents in the apartments across the street from the Brooklyn Center Police Department say clashes with protesters earlier this month after the police shooting of Daunte Wright made them feel more at risk.

Now they're asking the city to take action.

At a city meeting Wednesday night with the mayor and city council members, apartment residents said the city has left them high and dry with no protection and no resources to heal from the trauma they’ve endured.

"Now it’s all over and now everyone gets to go home," said Jamiya Crayton, an apartment resident. "The protesters, the officers, and now my two kids with autism are too scared to come home because they think something is going to happen."

Many of the residents who live across the street from the police station said their children are traumatized after experiencing night after night of loud flash bangs and pepper spray seeping into their apartments. With groups still gathering outside every night, they are still dealing with noise and security issues.

The residents asked the city to provide support in the form of rental assistance so they can move and mental health support so that their kids especially can work through the fear and anxiety they’ve developed.  

"There’s no safety," said Kia Welch, an apartment resident. "There’s no safety. All we see is safety for the police officers. I think rental assistance because that community is unsafe."

Those apartment residents say local churches and community groups have tried to help with hotel rooms, food and diapers, but that their needs are so much bigger.  

The city says it wants to work on solutions to all these concerns and they will continue to listen to residents with a few more of these public forums coming up in the next week, including one on Saturday at 3 p.m.