Was an arrest warrant for Daunte Wright issued because a notice related to his aggravated robbery case had been sent to the wrong address? No, that's not true: Court files show a notice related to the robbery case was marked "return to sender," which may mean it was sent to the wrong address, but there was no active warrant on that case at the time of Wright's death on April 11, 2021. The outstanding warrant for Wright at the time he was shot and killed by police during a traffic stop was related to a different case.
The wrong address claim appeared in an Instagram post (archived here) published on April 12, 2021. The post appeared to be a copy of a TikTok video posted by comedian Walter Masterson. In it, Masterson spoke while words flashed on the screen. They read:
So I have breaking news about Daunte Wright. Nobody knows this yet. I know why he had a warrant out for his arrest and this is tragic.
This is what users saw on social media at the time of writing:
Masterson then instructed his viewers to look up the details of the case, which he identified as number 27-CR-19-29850. Details of the robbery case can be seen by searching here.
Wright had been charged with aggravated robbery in December 2019, and his case remained open at the time of his death.
As Masterson said, it is true that a notice related to that case was marked "return to sender," which may mean it was sent to the wrong address. However, contrary to what Masterson claimed, there was no active warrant on the robbery case.
Masterson said:
Daunte Wright had a warrant out for his arrest because the notice for the Zoom hearing was sent to the wrong address.
Lead Stories has written about Wright's aggravated robbery case before. See our story here. The case was set for a jury trial August 2, 2021, and -- again -- there was no active warrant on the case.
There was an outstanding warrant for Wright, but related to a different case.
Police say they stopped Wright because of expired tags and then found out an arrest warrant had been issued for Wright on April 2, 2021. The warrant was for failing to appear at a hearing in a case about carrying a pistol without a permit and fleeing a peace officer. It is not clear why he failed to appear.
Details on that case, number 27-CR-21-4400, can be seen by searching here, and a copy of the warrant can be seen here.
Wright, 20, was fatally shot by an officer during an April 11, 2021, traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. The officers did not know Wright had an outstanding warrant when they pulled him over. Officials have said Kimberly Potter, the Brooklyn Center police officer who shot Wright, seemingly mistook her gun for a Taser. She was charged with second-degree manslaughter on April 14, 2021.
