the world, i have never seen fewer police out at a protest that has gone this way. >> exactly. there are two key things to realize at this scene. the first is that the police have made the decision, they're not going to enforce the law here in this area. we have seen no police officers. we have been walking around. there are buildings on fire. people looting. people are attempting to break into the store behind us. yet there's no police enforcement. they made the judgment call that they are mere presence right now is going to escalate this. of course if you are a business or live in the area, that concerns you. you don't see that police presence. the second thing i want to point out, all though we're in the area of people are breaking into things, this doesn't seem to represent the protestors that we saw closer to the police station. who seem to be purposefully upset at what occurred with the death of mr. floyd. if you think about it the folks

here aren't mentioning their name. they aren't talking about it. this is different than by the police station. where people had signs and were trying to get their point across. they are unhappy with what's happening. and if you think about it, we have covered these over and over. the same thing happens, it occurs and people move on. it's clear they don't want to move on. and the protestors out here are one voice that we're hearing. there are members of the community telling them to please stop breaking into things. that is not helping the cause. chaotic situation with so many different parties. >> i want you to standby. we'll get back to you. on the ground for us in minnesota. don't go far. this is "cnn tonight" i'm don lemon. we're following two major stories tonight. two crisis killing americans.

covid-19 and racism 20. the mayor of minute aneapolis. demanding the four officers in the death be arrested kp charged. prosecutors pleading for patience while they investigate the death. the number of confirmed cases now more than 1.7 million. the cdc releasing a forecast today. projecting 123,000 coronavirus deaths. by june 20. a little more than three weeks from now. the president finally acknowledging that the death toll has surged past 100,000. tweeting his sympathy to the families of the victims. let's get right to minneapolis.

also in neighboring st. paul. new in tonight we have the transcript of the 911 call that led to the incident. we'll go through it with josh. let me get to see what's happening. we haven't checked in with him. what are you seeing on the ground in st. paul? >> you probably can't see, two more fires have started down university towards the state capitol. i don't know if you can see that. i want to show you what's happening here. where protestors have been challenging police at this fire. several businesses including a napa autoparts are on fire. a large group of protestors just came up. it looked like they had been marching downtown. and they came up. very young. they have moved towards police not realizing just how liberal they're being with the use of mace and tear gas, pepper balls.

and flash bang grenades. i'm guessing police are shortly going to try to disperse the crowd. this is what we have seen the entire day. crowds growing and surging towards the police. and when they deploy some of the non-lethal types of weapons, the crowd shrinks back. it's really gotten much bigger in the last few minutes. it's unclear what -- i want to stop over here. this is an area. there's a large number of protestors. shooting pepper balls here at those individuals. step back a second. we have a fire truck coming through. it's not clear what direction they are headed. they're probably headed down -- i can see two different fires about two blocks away. towards the state capitol from where we are. i assume that's why the fire truck is headed. the protestors on the side of

the this street have really been challenging the police. this is where most of the activity has been today. the young protestors showed up. there maybe an effort by police to move them back using non-lethal means here. very shortly. >> the cities that are fair will close in proximity. really close. but police in st. paul seem to take a different tactic. the police in minneapolis according to folks on the scene have left the scene. in many parts. these police officers are very active still moving protestors back. keeping control. >> yeah, they are definitely trying to keep this from getting any bigger and moving into a larger conflict. the third precinct something blowing up or being shot right

now. you can see it here. these are some of the flash bangs they are using now. and pepper balls shooting at protestors down the street. they are being very active in trying to control the crowds and keep them from any further looting. that said there are shops up and down the street here. that the windows are broken up. people are going in and out. and basically doing what they want however they want. it's unclear what's going on over there. exactly how long police will stand off with these individuals. it looked like they may have been pulling out at one point. they have redoubled efforts and are bringing more people in. >> do police seem to -- they were backing off. i'm wondering -- i want to get clarification what's happening in minneapolis. are they overwhelmed? are they out manned? >> they are -- well, the crowd

has grown. there are more protestors here than police. at least on this side of the barricade. i don't know what it looks like on the other side. the crowd has not diminished at all. if anything it's grown. the police have brought in reenforcement and do have pepper balls and flash bang grenades and mace or tear gas. they have been using against the crowd. which does disperse it for a while. it comes back angrier every time. there are chants of george floyd's name. hearing from george floyd's family and friends and people who knew him, this gentle giant. he would not be happy with what he's seeing tonight. >> as i spoke to the vice president of the city counsel, she told me in the break one thing she wanted to get in and didn't is she wanted the protestors especially doing

looting to go home and stop destroying the community. standby. be safe. and look at the picture now. protestor taunting a police officer. police officers restraining themselves. there you go. >> they're using tear gas to get them out. they are spraying pepper spray there. they're shooting canisters. they're shooting canisters of tear gas down the street. to disperse the crowd. which is what i expected would happen. >> did you get a whiff of tear gas? >> well, we have been covered in tear gas all day. but that crowd ran and it wasn't clear how far the canisters were going over. the last thing i want is to get beaned by a canister shooting

down the street. >> is this -- what you have been seeing today is this the height of it? did you see more explosive action between or confrontation? >> it has been like this all afternoon. where the crowd will move up towards the police. they will taunt the police. the police will use tear gas. use other means to move them back. there was a couple of times they tried to go after somebody but there were no arrests made that i saw the police backed off. they brought more police in. in riot gear in the late in the afternoon. and that's when they really started to pull push everybody back off this corner. and now you have police sort of i think just trying to keep the crowds back. and keep them from forming. every time they push them back, they reform in about the same

number if not bigger. the numbers right now have grown since earlier this afternoon. when we got here. >> the people we are seeing driving and in cars. are those police officers? or regular pedestrian citizens that we saw cars -- >> some are police officers. some are police officers. you can see police officers getting in a truck now. they maybe going to a different area. there are more fires burning down the way. so, they maybe going down there. there are a will tlot of cars. people pull up to the stop sign and completely shocked and stunned and have no idea what to do. because they didn't mean to get into the middle of something like this. and not quite sure what to do. police are now directing them to go down the other road. there's a will the of confusion about people who find themselves in this situation. driving their car down here. i'm curious what the police in the back of the pickup truck are going to be doing in a few

minutes. they just loaded nd there. they are clearly going to some other location possibly down the street. >> you're listening to st. paul. 11:00 p.m. eastern. in minnesota. i'm don lemon you're watching this breaking news. it is unfolding live right here on cnn. in st. paul and minneapolis. the twin cities. he has been watching this go down really all afternoon. confrontations between police and protestors. a back and forth so to speak. protestors move forward and then police move forward and protestors retreat. either shot with pepper spray into the crowd or the rubber bullets that you have been seeing. or flash bangs rather. and again on the scene. have you figured out where these police officers are going?

police officers gathered in the back of a pickup truck. >> racing down -- a very large number of police just loaded up and headed down the street. ooip guessing they are headed to the fire down here. which we can try to check out. it's several blocks from where we are. this will complicated things for police many st. paul. there was a car fire earlier today and jumped on it quickly. they don't want to have multiple places burning. there are reports o a gas station burning not too far from where we are. if they have another fire two blocks away, that will thin out the number of police and firefighters they have for the area. and really complicate their job tonight. >> all right. i want you to standby. don't go far. and the director if you're listening, let's look at pictures. do we have any? st. paul, minnesota. this is minneapolis.

it's burning, really on fire. from the pictures that we were seeing moments ago. again, this is all playing out live here on cnn. these are pictures -- we don't have control. whatever they are putting up i'm speaking to the pictures our affiliate is showing. people on the interstate or on a large highway in protest. and cars following them. protestors carrying signs. again you have st. paul, minnesota. the twin cities. there are protests there. i think it's time to check in with our white house correspondent. we have been talking about these two crisis killing americans. racism and coronavirus. i want to get the reaction from the white house now. and from the administration. caitlyn collins. what can you tell us?

>> well, speaking of what's happening in minnesota tonight and we do know the president was briefed on this today. he was meeting with the attorney general and the deputy fbi director earlier today. they spoke about this. later the president talked about this. he said he watched this video of the police officer kneeling on george floyd's neck. he called it disturbing and talked about the affect it had on him. the question is what will happen going forward. he said that he believes justice will be served. so the press secretary said that. it's not clear exactly what that means. they didn't really say what it will look like. and declined to say if they believe charges should be brought against the officers. not a will the of detail. we know he has been getting briefings. >> listen, it took let's talk about the coronavirus. it took the president really a long time to acknowledge this grim milestone that we reached yesterday. 100,000. now it's over 100,000 people who have died.

americans have died from the coronavirus. if you look at the president's twitter feed, which is where he often speaks out. you see grievances. he wants to skip over the grim avoidable milestone. he finally mentioned it sometime today. >> yeah, he did. that was at least over 12 hours since that milestone had passed last night. the president has been active on twitter talking about other things. talking about the russia investigation. really everything under the sun but hasn't mentioned that. reporters had been inquiring with the white house was the president going to do anything to mark this grim milestone the united states reached. they pointed to the fact he lowered the flags to half staff over the weekend in honor of those who lost their lives to coronavirus. this is a number obsessed president. he didn't think the death toll in the united states would reach 100,000. now it's surpassed that and we're not in the clear yet. if you listen to the health

experts. he really hasn't remarked on the death toll very much. he addressed it on twitter today and sends his sympathy to the those who lost their lives and family members to this. that really was really the only acknowledgment from the president. no commemoration or anything marking the death toll. >> on top of the stories for us. we appreciate it. >> protests spread over the death of george floyd in police custody, we'll break down exactly what the videos show. the videos. plural. what they show and whether they match what police say. you'll see gratitude. communities showing support in their own way. our way is massmutual healthbridge, a free life insurance program just for healthcare workers fighting covid-19. ♪ so to all the healthcare workers on the front lines,

thank you. ♪ noticks and fleas?o simplifies protection. thank you. see ya! heartworm disease? no way!

simparica trio is the first chewable that delivers all this protection. and simparica trio is demonstrated safe for puppies. it's simple: go with simparica trio. this drug class has been associated with neurologic adverse reactions, including seizures; use with caution in dogs with a history of these disorders. protect him with all your heart. simparica trio.

but some can't do it alone. they need help to stay home and stay safe. they need us and we need you. home instead. apply today.

we want to get back to breaking news. in minneapolis, minnesota. new in tonight we have the transcripts of the 911 call. we'll go over all of that. first i want to get to you guys i understand there's something new happening at the police

station. what do you know? >> so i'm going to let you see the pictures. this is the third precinct. fir fires burning to the left of it. in the back you are hearing people throwing things against the walls against the glass. and against anything they can. now the fire alarm you'll see it flashing inside of the third precinct. behind just behind it, is a fire that is billowing and has been going for a few minutes now. really strongly. you hear people cheering every time they get through one of the windows there. with whatever it is they're throwing. you can see pieces of concrete. there's someone climbing up the wall. the back of the third precinct. kicking the window in. trying to climb up the wall. people are trying to get in the building. people are trying to get into the building. there is now a person who is

going and trying to get physically into the third precinct there. at the bottom. at the top on the other side there were police officers inside of that. but, i'll have you move the camera to the left and show the fire. the fires are closer and closer to the precinct. that is the wine and spirits store on fire on the other side. now smoke billowing from inside of the third precinct. you see that white smoke. billowing outside of that. you see that fire alarm going off. we know there were officers in there not too long ago. we're not sure of the status of how many officers are still inside or have a evacuated. we know that just earlier there were officers standing on top of the roof. about five or six of them throwing down things to separate the protestors.

now you are seeing actually seeing smoke that is coming out of the third precinct. >> where are the police? >> the fire -- we don't know. we are not seeing police out here now. we have been seeing them standing on the top of the third precinct. where they have been throwing things down and keep people from breeching. now there are no police. there's no police presence. we talked about that earlier. the police presence has gone to zero at this point. outside of the third precinct. how unusual is this? now fire has started. the fire has started. we're watching it right now. we're watching it go up in flames right now. [ cheers ] >> people are cheering.

it appears to be on fire at this time. the third precinct is on fire at this time. with people who are now starting to go closer kp closer -- >> standby. i want to from my vantage point. you can see the pictures on your screen now. of the third precinct which is on fire. director -- the one on the left. it's on the right? the fire on the right. again, that is the third precinct. what you hear -- people who are cheering in this crowd as this police precinct goes up in flames. the picture on the right the ground picture that you're seeing on the ground is the aerial shot. and so as she had been reporting all evening here on cnn, they had tried to breech the

perimeter earlier. a fence they erected recently to keep protestors out, that appears to have all been for not. now this police precinct appears to be on fire. it is on fire. you can see it in the middle of the screen. the concern is with all of this, where are the police officers? who is inside of the building? personnel, staff, people who maybe in lock up or what have you. we would hope they are safe and out of that building. but, these actions should not be happening. okay? again, understand the anger, not the action. this shouldn't be happening. a police precinct shouldn't be going up in flames. up in smoke. businesses shouldn't be as well. people shouldn't be cheering. but, here we are. this is what's happening. this is what is playing out live for you on your screen, america. on live tv on cnn. a community that is fed up.

we're hearing i'm not sure if it's gunshots or flash bang or fire works. back now to the scene. you can see the sign that says minneapolis police. it's a police department. talk to me, what are we hearing? >> those are not gunshots. they are fire works being fired off be protestors. in front of me. all the lights that you see over head, that is from fire works. we are now seeing a fully on fire third precinct here. that is clearly what's happening there. there have been boards that have been put up outside of the third precinct. and those boards are on fire. it looks like the fire has gotten bigger at this point in time. you can see protestors so

close@fire they are getting hit with sparks from the fire coming off of that building. that is what's going on right now. it is official that the building is on fire. the precinct is on fire. we don't know where the police are. we see the store on fire on the other side of the street. we see a fire behind the precinct and protestors throwing fire works at the precinct. and the fire alarm is going on inside. this is a scene that is completely changed from earlier today. when things were peaceful. people cheering and more fire works going off as the police precinct is burning. >> josh, i want to ask you, because you are our law enforcement expert. how will police and the fire department respond in this -- how do they respond in a situation like this? >> the police have made a

calculated decision that they're not going enforce what we're seeing behind us. fire being set to the police department. you can hear that's going on around us. fire works going off. people climbing on the side of the building. they made the decision they are not going to stop people from doing that. the reason is they know any type of police presence here is going to be met with aggression. andage station by the crowd. that is unhappy. i can tell you we were three blocks away at a financial institution on fire. the fire department was there. keeping a distance. they were not moving in to fight the fire. not wanting to put themselves in jeopardy or danger with the crowd that is clearly agitated. this is beyond what we saw earlier. we have a fire burning, people chiming on the building. shooting what looks like fire works and rockets at the building. we looked inside the windows, you don't see police officers there. i think what happened here is the majority of officers at the location have probably left. for their safety. there might be a team left mind.

we saw people on the roof earlier. i think what we're seeing is they'll let this building burn. you won't see officers come in. they know the decision is you lose a building or lose lives potentially. that's the calculation they're making. >> they're not trying to control the fire? just let it burn. is that what you believe the calculation is. >> yeah. we have seen no indication that officers or fire department -- i'm scanning the crowd. there's a lot going on. no indication they are trying to fight the fire or enforce the criminal activity going on. it's looting people are crashing through the windows here. set the building on fire. they are making a calculation they would rather lose a building than try to incite or inflame the situation. what happens after that we don't know. whether they let the fire go. we haven't seen police officers staging. no flashing lights. there was a helicopter.

it's now moved away. they are letting the situation play out. making that calculation that's probably the best interest of the community. >> speaking of the calculation -- >> there's no siren at all. there's no fire department coming. last night, three or four showed up. this is a calculated decision. not a single fire truck is here. >> right on. that leads into my next question. if you can answer this. it appears that the police department must be out manned in order for it to get to this point. i know they asked at least in st. paul for the national guard to come and help. so apparently the department is not big enough to handle this or equipped to handle this demonstration? is that what we're seeing? >> yeah, if you think about what a police precinct is.

this isn't where the police officers hang out. this is the headquarters for the area. they are disperted patrolling the community. you don't have a presence in the facility to begin with. the crowd. there are hundreds of people here. cars lined up trying to get to the location. clearly out manned. i don't know if they had officers throughout the city that would be able to control this crowd. in any successful way. there's too much going on. again, back to what is actually flaming the situation. people are angry with the actions of the police. if you have the infusion of officers here trying to push the people back trying to conduct arrests, they know this would turn dangerous and deadly quickly. for the officers and the people here in the community. this is one of the situations that is not easy to control. if it were easy it would be resolved already. i assume the police chief are making a determination that they're not bringing in the crowd control. or the riot police.

they will lose a piece of property. as the fire continues to move out. they are not wanting to obviously inflame the situation. not that they could even if they had nuenough officers. surrounded by hundreds of people. >> again, you're saying last night you heard sirens at least a couple times. you're hearing nothing now. an indication to you both of you, that there are no officers around. at least in this particular location. >> certainly not trying to put the fire out. the fire department is not out here. they were actually earlier today and you saw this. they were down the road at the fire that started at what appears to be a pawnshop. they are not here. there is no sirens, no sense there's any authority out here trying to control the situation. >> you said that you saw there were hundreds of people gathering, how did the crowds -- did they grow throughout the evening and how many people do

you think are out there? can you give us an estimate. >> we're talking in the thousands. it has grown. it is bigger it seems like it was last night. as i watch the crowd grow last night. there are people cars coming in to the target parking lot. a line of cars coming in to take part in this. now there are just there have got to be a couple thousand people out here. >> we're in one location by the police station. this activity is going on all around us. this is what i call a suburban shopping area. you have big box stores. we walked around and people are trying to get their way inside these stores. again this is very much it seems like a tale of two groups of people. people here that are angry with the police department. you have others who are taking advantage of the situation. and appear to loot some of the buildings. this crowd just continues to

grow. we have been out here for a couple hours now and it seems like more and more you see the people from a law enforcement perspective with now night having fallen here. the sun has gone down. police officers can't see the crowd. it gets dangerous and deadly. even if they want to keep tabs on everyone and everything going on in this location, they wouldn't be able to. think about the area. and this neighborhood. and what people might be doing right now as the crowd spreads out. it's a dangerous and volatile situation here. i think the police know that. >> when do police come back? when do they show up? when is order -- when will they try to restore some order to the area and situation? >> so when you're in law enforcement and trying to diffuse a situation, you have to ask yourself and we're looking because there are different sounds going on.

when you're in law enforcement and trying to diffusion a situation. what best accomplishes that? a robust show of force, the riot police, oftentimes in certain situations you will see that. that's not happening here. the calculation is being made that they don't have the manpower or enough officers and this is a powder keg. this whole situation. you have been here for several hours. this situation is very tense. we have been walking throughout the crowd, you have people that are shouting things at us and clearly people are unhappy. imagine someone in uniform right now coming out trying to either arrest or control the crowd. again just a powder keg. it's an inperfect situation, nobody wants to see the loss of profit. or the loss of a government building. again loud explosion here around us. fire works it sound like. that's a determination they're trying to make. they don't want to inflame the situation. we're seeing this across the

country. >> what about people who taking responsibility for this or held accountable for this. will they be able to hold people accountable and who started the fire. will they use surveillance video and security cameras? will they go after the people or some people who took part in this? >> yeah, this police station behind us has on every single corner. obviously robust coverage here from the video surveillance perspective. that maybe the case. we may see them coming later on and try to identify people. their goal is let this thing play out. one thing they have employed and smelling some type of gas fume it smells like. one thing earlier they were deploying a less than lethal foam round. someone who might be especially

trying to aggravate a situation and the goal of that is mark someone so they can follow up later on with the investigation. one second. what they try to do is tag that person and later on they can figure out who the person was and what they were doing. that's not the goal at the beginning. the goal is let the situation die down and the investigation will come later. >> it's interesting, you saw people who were really close where they were getting hit by some of the sparks of the fire. as we saw some of the pictures from the affiliate helicopter, people are standing extremely close to the flame at the police department. dangerously close. >> yeah. i don't know if you can see this, push in as close as you can. there are people so close to the flames they can literally have the back of their heads singed.

there are so many people pushed up against that. if anything blows up or gets really strong or some sort of backdrop, this would be a really dangerous and potentially harmful, devastating situation. for the protestors themselves who put themselves in a position that is pretty dangerous. the flames are licking outside of the department. we saw protestors kicking down some of the polls that have some of the surveillance cameras on them. in the parking lot. across the street. they are purposely knocking over and trying to take down some of the surveillance cameras. because they realize what those could be used for. but for the folks here, sir would you mind for a second. i appreciate it. when you look here, the fire is getting bigger and stronger. it's really gone deeply into that first floor of the police

department. and you're seeing people more and more getting closer and closer. it is a really volatile, dangerous situation. there's no other way to say it. >> i want to bring in now as we watch the pictures, a former maryland state police officer. neil, i want to get your reaction to what's happening here. it appears from the cruiser on the scene from josh and sarah. no police presence. no sirens. no one is being disciplined or not trying to move anyone back. your reaction to the police station being set on fire here in minneapolis? >> yeah, i have a couple concerns about that. hopefully they have taken precautions to move anything that's important out of that precinct. what i mean by that are maybe computers that might have information on them that's critical to solving crime. this could potentially jeopardize that investigative work. i hope they have the information

backed up or taken some sort of precaution to move it out. as well as anyone who might be in that building. any staff, any civilian personnel. hopefully all of those folks have been evacuated. this is a strategic decision by the police. if we have people out, in a riot situation, if this precinct which is a government building draws people to that location, instead of burning other buildings and causing chaos in other parts of the city, that might be a wise decision to make. >> interesting. explain that again. why is that? >> so, now you have concentrated the people who are the aggressors the people who are causing property damage. concentrating them in one place to vent to release the anger and frustration. instead of roaming through other parts of the city. burning buildings and setting, looting buildings.

potentially injuring people. it allows you to control the people more than if they were spread out in other areas of the city. >> as a former police officer, and in your years in law enforcement, ever seen anything like this? >> well, unfortunately, yes. i was in baltimore city during the freddy gray riot. >> the burning of the police station. >> no, i have not seen this. usually the precinct stations are protected quite well. with barricades and with personnel. i have never seen a precinct station set a blaze. >> i'm wondering what happens after this is my question. if you have never seen it, probably impossible to answer that question. do we have ellie on the line? the former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern

district of new york. what does happen after this? i don't know if you can answer this question. you are a former assistant u.s. attorney. you may have insight into this. please, tell us. >> there's two tracks regarding the potential murder information. a state investigation and a federal investigation. we heard from the lead prosecutor today at the press conference. the state has to make a decision how they'll charge this. when. are they charging murder in the first degree or lesser manslaughter charge. the feds meanwhile the fbi and justice department are investigating for a potential violation of civil rights law. a crime. both prosecutors are working. they should be coordinating if they're doing it right. and should be moving as quickly as they can towards a charge. we're seeing why time is absolutely of the essence. >> what about -- my question specifically to now, what about

this police station? this is a federal building, this is a public building. and again, i have never seen anything like this. i have seen people burn down other buildings. not a police station. to happen live on tv. what happens after this? that's any question. >> i have never seen anything like this either. there has been to be an investigation. there have to be con kwenss for whoever it was. if they can isolate the people who burned down the building. to burn down a police station there are serious crimes. arson. let's pray there's no bodily injury or death. we could be looking for serious crimes. there needs to be a very serious investigation. they'll look at surveillance video. it will be difficult with the sheer volume of people who are there and the fact it's nighttime. there have to be real consequences for this. it's deadly serious.

>> thank you. thank you neil and josh and sarah. we have reached out to the minneapolis police department for a response to this. they cannot respond at this moment. we will keep an eye on the pictures and continue to report live. you're looking at the minneapolis police precinct. being burned down live by protestors on national tv. international television. at 10:44 p.m. central time. ♪when you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion,♪ ♪upset stomach, diarrhea pepto bismol coats and soothes your stomach for fast relief

and now, get the same fast relief in a delightful chew with new pepto bismol chews. when visible set out to create the future of phone service... we tossed the stuff that wasn't working. stuff like foot-long bills and fees from nowhere. time-wasting stores, misleading ads, unhelpful help centers. and saved the stuff that was working. like verizon's 4g lte network. plus unlimited data, messages, and minutes. it's a simple system. trim the bad... make the good better... and way cheaper. meet visible. unlimited data on verizon's 4g lte network. just $25 for your first month. join us at visible.com.

yeah. this moving thing never gets any easier. well, xfinity makes moving super easy. i can transfer my internet and tv service in about a minute.

wow, that is easy. almost as easy as having those guys help you move. we are those guys. that's you? the truck adds 10 pounds. in the arms. -okay... transfer your service online in a few easy steps. now that's simple, easy, awesome. transfer your service in minutes, making moving with xfinity a breeze. visit xfinity.com/moving today.

we're back now with the breaking news. let's get the pictures up from minneapolis, minnesota. where the third precinct the police officers work the police officers involved in the stop of george floyd. ended up losing his life as one of the officers kept a knee on his neck for about eight minutes or so. so pres tors there upset. our affiliate shooting aerials of the fires that have broken out there. as we try to get those back i want to bring in cnn law enforcement analyst. former washington d.c. police chief. on the phone. also, former police commissioner of philadelphia. so, commissioner, talk to me about this. you see the mrpolice station upn

flames. people are anger. you can understand the anger. the acts of rioting and violence. there's the pictures. just shouldn't be happening. what happens to the evidence, what happens to the case files and god forbid what if someone was inside the police building? what happens here? >> this is a tragedy all the way around. you have an individual who has lost his life. the actions of the police officer, totally wrong. and what you see going on right now is beyond what's justified in my opinion. i understand the frustration. but burning and looting is not the way to solve the problem. it's just growing and growing and getting worse and worse as time goes on. and it could very well spread outside of minneapolis. already st. paul, of course, is

seeing its share of problems. i'm afraid it may expand even beyond that. >> so, josh campbell who is a former fbi agent says he believes the calculation was made to leave the police department so there wouldn't be any more loss of life, there were so many protesters trying to get in. and also neil franklin said it puts all of the actors or the people they consider wrong doers in one place, and that may actually be good for the rest of minneapolis because all of these people have congregated in one place. talk to me about that, chief ramsey. >> well, i mean, i don't know if i agree with that to be honest with you. certainly evacuated the facility if they felt it was going to come to this would save lives. most records are electronically stored anyway, so i don't think there's any issue there. but thinking that it's bringing all the bad actors and people who are upset to one location, i

don't know. i don't think that much thought went into it. i think they've just got a terrible situation that's out of control and really quite frankly don't know what to do. you burn this police station. okay. now what? what do you have after that? i mean, you know, people are frustrated and rightfully so. i totally get that. but this is not the way to resolve the problems. if you want to do something, march on washington. let the justice department know how you feel. surround the white house, surround the capitol. do all the things you need to do to bring this matter to everyone's attention so they can no longer ignore it this has been going on for a long time. it's a powder keg, and it has just blown up. >> couple things, chief ramsey. what about the folks -- and i want to move on and talk about -- not to mention this is happening in the middle of a pandemic. people are saying listen, people have tried to peacefully protest. they've tried to take a knee.

and now this. what do you say to that argument? >> i just don't think violence is the way to solve a problem. i really don't. and there is a problem. i'm not trying to justify what happened in minneapolis or what's happened in other instances, far from it. we have to deal with it. but this is not the way to deal with it. burning and looting is not the way to deal with it. it just isn't. but i understand the frustration. but people have to calm down at least to be able to talk about it. those officers need to be held accountable. i get it. they should be criminally charged in my opinion. but even that by itself isn't going to change what's going on in our country. and that's going to require serious change and serious people coming together and really doing what's necessary to make the changes so we don't continue to have incidents like this. it taints everything. it taints the good police officers that are out there working hard, trying to do the right thing. it taints the community.

it taints the city. everything. the entire criminal justice system is on trial here. it's not just the police. people are frustrated with the entire system. they do not believe they get a fair shake and in some instances they're absolutely right, they don't. >> again, this is happening during a pandemic. sri to get to a break, chief ramsey. but people have been at home for months. >> right. >> there is no social distancing when it comes to this. >> but there's so much frustration, don. you know. black people are disproportionately impacted by the virus. job loss. do you know who's disproportionately impacted by that? now you have this issue. the frustration is real. it's understandable. this just isn't the way to deal with it. >> chief ramsey. thank you very much. appreciate your time. we want you to stand by as well as the rest of the folks who are out here covering this story that's taking place live for you in minneapolis, minnesota. minneapolis is on fire right now. minneapolis is burning. and you are watching it live.

quick break. we're back nay moment. (female vo) when it comes to longevity, who has the highest percentage of its vehicles innay moment. nay moment. anay m. . . . who does intellichoice rank number one? subaru. and when it comes to safety, who has more 2020 iihs top safety pick+ winning vehicles? more than toyota, honda, and hyundai-combined? subaru. it's easy to love a car you can trust. it's easy to love a subaru. get 0% apr financing for 63 months on select subaru models now through june 1st. for people with heart failure taking entresto, it may lead to a world of possibilities. entresto helps improve your heart's ability to pump blood to the body. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto.

woi felt completely helpless.hed online. or high blood potassium. my entire career and business were in jeopardy. i called reputation defender. vo: take control of your online reputation. get your free reputation report card at reputationdefender.com. find out your online reputation today and let the experts help you repair it. woman: they were able to restore my good name. vo: visit reputationdefender.com or call 1-877-866-8555.

hey mama, what's up? i only see one price on my phone bill. you're on t-mobile, taxes and fees are included. why can't all my bills be like this? i don't know mama. umph! with t-mobile, taxes and fees are included. and when you switch your family, get 4 lines of unlimited for just $35 a line.

this is "cnn tonight." just before midnight on the east coast. here's our breaking news, protests over the death of george floyd in police custody. it's spreading tonight. police precinct in minneapolis on fire surrounded by crowds of

protesters. and we are going to put up some incredible images for you, there it is, fires burning out of control there. the police department saying staff of the third precinct was evacuate. the director of the office of public information saying protesters forcibly entered the building and ignited several fires. and just moments ago -- this is new in to cnn -- the minnesota national guard tweeted this -- we have activated more than 500 soldiers to st. paul, minneapolis, and surrounding communities. our mission is to protect live, preserve property, and the right to peacefully demonstrate. the key objective is to ensure fire departments are able to respond to calls. the minnesota national guard has been activated this evening