Family and supporters are putting on a birthday party Tuesday for Jamar Clark, a black man who was fatally shot last fall during an altercation with white police officers on the North Side.
The group Black Lives Matter, a leading voice in contending that Clark's shooting was unjustified, said the celebration is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Harrison Park, just west of Humboldt Avenue on Olson Hwy.
"Jamar Clark's family would like to invite the community to come out and celebrate the life and memory of Jamar on what would have been his 25th birthday," the Facebook notice from Black Lives Matter reads. "Remember the wonderful young man who was taken too soon from us by MPD."
The festivities will include a potluck meal, music and children's activities.
Two officers clashed with Clark outside an apartment building late at night on Plymouth Avenue. The officers contended that Clark was acting erratically and grabbed the gun of one of the officers, prompting the other officer to shoot him.
The Hennepin County attorney's office reviewed the investigation and declined to charge the officers. Still pending are investigations by the U.S. Justice Department and the Police Department.
Paul Walsh
