Did a viral video authentically document enforcing COVID-19 lockdowns in Minnesota in 2020 on orders of Gov. Tim Walz? No, that's not true: The video showing law enforcement using what appear to be paintball guns was taken when state authorities imposed curfews and mobilized the National Guard in response to the aftermath of that year's George Floyd protests. The person who recorded the footage told Lead Stories, "The event had nothing to do with COVID."
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly known as Twitter, on August 13, 2024. It said:
Here is a clean downloadable video of Tim Walz enforcing his 2020 Covid lockdowns by having police shoot civilians with paintball guns...
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Wed Aug 14 14:33:05 2024 UTC)
The 45-second video opened with a shot of what looked like an armored vehicle driving into a residential area. A unit of uniformed people in riot gear followed it, shouting for locals to get inside their homes.
At the 0:23 mark, the camera captures a flash coming out from what appears to be a weapon held by one of the uniformed persons. The camera records a female scream, and the next few seconds seem to show the video's author and a few more people rushing to get inside their home from the porch.
A reverse image search showed that the footage had been on the internet for the past four years and is unrelated to pandemic restrictions.
Tanya Kerssen, the local resident who published the video on May 30, 2020, and who was first identified in 2020 as its author by WCCO | CBS Minnesota (archived here), told Lead Stories on LinkedIn on August 14, 2024:
The event had nothing to do with COVID. Some 25 cities instituted curfews in response to protests over the killing of George Floyd.
She also shared the link to a CNN article (archived here) about it.
As of this writing, Kerssen's original tweet was unavailable. She confirmed she deleted it, adding that the video is available on other platforms.
In May and June 2020, CBS (archived here), Independent (archived here) and USA Today (archived here) and later ProPublica (archived here) covered the videotaped incident. They all reported that it was related to authorities' response to protests following the death of George Floyd.
Hours before the video was published, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz held a press conference on May 30, 2020, addressing the mobilization of the National Guard to stop the violence that followed initially peaceful gatherings.
Three days before it, on March 27, 2020, Walz signed an executive order easing -- not tightening -- COVID-related restrictions.
Patch.com also reviewed the claim that is the focus of this fact check.
Other Lead Stories fact checks on claims concerning Tim Walz can be found here. Stories about the 2024 U.S. presidential election are here.
