On Monday, father of two George Floyd was murdered after four Minneapolis police officers apprehended him, with one of them placing his knee firmly on Floyd’s neck, despite pleas that he couldn’t breathe. Now, it has been revealed that Floyd was killed for using a counterfeit $20 bill at a deli.
Mahmoud Abumayyaleh, the co-owner of Cup Foods deli, broke his silence on Thursday during an interview with CNN, revealing that one of his employees was the one who called police after Floyd allegedly tried to make his purchase with a fake bill. He confirmed that Floyd had already exited the store when staff noticed the bill was fake.
“My staff called the police, practicing protocol, and when the police arrived, Floyd was still outside, and that’s when they approached him,” he said.
Abumayyaleh says that once a family member witnessed Floyd being restrained, they attempted to intervene, reportedly asking the officer to remove his knee from Floyd’s neck. The store owner said that while he did not see Floyd resisting arrest, the incident was captured on the grocery store’s surveillance camera; however, they cannot be shared publicly due to the open investigation.
“I viewed [the footage], and what I see was devastating. It was very heartbreaking, and our condolences go out to the family and friends of George Floyd.”
Cup Foods, which has been in business for over 30 years, has received intense backlash from residents, as riots and protests grip the city.
“Although we have a village of supporters behind us, there’s a small percentage of people who are angry and want answers, and we understand that. But let’s take that anger towards the people who took the action against the individual that killed. Let’s take that anger and use it towards bridging and fixing the problem in our system that is causing minorities in this country to be killed,” Abumayyaleh said.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey believes Floyd would be alive if he were a white man and wants to see the officers involved arrested for murder.
“I’m not a prosecutor, but let me be clear. The arresting officer killed someone,” Frey told CBS. “He’d be alive today if he were white. The facts that I’ve seen, which are minimal, certainly lead me down the path that race was involved.”
On Tuesday, all four police officers involved in the fatal arrest were fired on Tuesday and have since been identified as Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and J Alexander Kueng.
