Minneapolis cops walk out of Lynx game over players’ comments, shirts

Four officers walked out of a Minnesota Lynx game in response to shirts worn and comments made by players.

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Four Minneapolis officers working a Minnesota Lynx game walked out of their jobs in response to comments made and shirts worn by the team’s players Saturday.

The Minneapolis Star Tribunefirst reported the walk out.

Lynx players wore shirts saying “Change starts with us, justice and accountability” as well as the phrase “Black Lives Matter” before their Saturday game against the Dallas Wings. Before the game, Lynx forward Rebekkah Brunson said the players would wear the shirts “to honor and mourn the loss of precious American citizens and to plead change for all of us.”

The officers left their jobs to show disagreement with the players’ message. 

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Maya Moore, the 2014 WNBA MVP, said the team wore the shirts to highlight “a longtime problem of racial profiling.”

The players also spoke out against the killings of five police officers in Dallas last Thursday. The officers, who were independent contractors at the Lynx game, also removed themselves from consideration for working any future games.  

“I commend them for it,” Lt. Bob Kroll of the Minneapolis Police Federation told the Star Tribune.

The Target Center will still retain its own private security for the rest of the season.