Four men held in connection with shooting of demonstrators in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS — Four men were being held on Wednesday by Minneapolis police as prosecutors weighed charges against them in connection with the shooting this week of five demonstrators. They were protesting the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man.

Allen Lawrence Scarsella, 23; Joseph Martin Backman, 27; Nathan Wayne Gustavsson, 21; and Daniel Thomas Macey, 26, have been arrested and will be held until Monday as the Hennepin County Attorney's Office investigates the incident and decides whether to file charges, officials said.

The man are accused of shooting people demonstrating against the fatal shooting on Nov. 15 of Jamar Clark, 24.

Scarsella, Gustavsson and Backman are white, while Macey is Asian, police said. All four men are being held in the Hennepin County Jail without bail on suspicion of assault, according to online jail records.

None of the five demonstrators wounded in Monday's shooting suffered life-threatening injuries, police said.

Meanwhile, dozens of people gathered at a north Minneapolis church on Wednesday for Clark's funeral.

Some people entering the church wore white T-shirts with 'I matter' on the front or T-shirts with Clark's photo on them.

'I've been to too many funerals and I'm tired of it,' said mourner Sheryllynn Wagner to reporters outside the church.

Questions have been raised whether Clark was handcuffed when he was shot, which police have denied.

Clark died the next day from a gunshot wound to the head.

The officers involved are on leave.

According to authorities, the police officers responded to a request for assistance from paramedics who reported that someone was interfering as they tried to help an assault victim. They said Clark was a suspect in the assault and had an altercation with the officers before one of them shot him.