News in :90 – April 24, 2023

Kim Potter, the former Minnesota police officer who said she mistook her gun for a Taser when she shot and killed Daunte Wright in 2021, was released from prison early Monday.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections said Potter was released at about 4 a.m. “out of an abundance of caution” for Potter’s safety. The department confirmed Friday she would be released Monday from the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shakopee, but declined to say what time due to security concerns.

Jury selection began Monday in the federal death penalty trial of a truck driver accused of shooting to death 11 Jewish worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.

Robert G. Bowers, who is from the Pittsburgh suburb of Baldwin, faces 63 counts in the Oct. 27, 2018, attack at the Tree of Life synagogue, where members of three Jewish congregations were holding Sabbath activities. The charges include 11 counts of obstruction of free exercise of religion resulting in death and 11 counts of hate crimes resulting in death.

Gunfire at a huge prom after-party at a home in Texas injured nine teenagers, and a second shooting in a nearby city is being investigated for a possible connection, officials said.

Sheriff’s deputies in Jasper County, in East Texas, arrived in the wee hours of Sunday at a home where about 250 people were partying, authorities said. They found nine victims with gunshot wounds that didn’t appear to be life-threatening, according to a statement by the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office.

Sam Larson can be reached lars4378@stthomas.edu.