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Bellingcat.com

January 2026

Five Shots in Five Minutes: Analysing One Federal Agent’s Use of Less-Lethal Launcher in Minneapolis

Some of the most intense protests took place in Minneapolis itself, with an agent using a less-lethal launcher in ways that experts told Bellingcat were “punitive” and “questionable at best”

Officers should only resort to less lethal weapons when faced by a serious physical violence posing a threat to themselves or others that is not possible to diffuse in any other way,
Because ground conditions, angles, and projectile behaviour are unpredictable, skip-firing reduces accuracy and control and increases the risk of unintended injury,