That evening, demonstrators protesting the law enforcement killing of Winston Boogie Smith had blocked the intersection of West Lake Street and Girard Avenue.

[2][3] At approximately 11:39 p.m. CDT, a man in a late-model Jeep Cherokee drove into the crowd at a high speed, striking a parked vehicle that had been used to block off the intersection to traffic, which then collided with protesters, killing Knajdek and injuring three others.

[3][4][5] The driver, Nicholas Kraus of Saint Paul, Minnesota, was charged with second-degree intentional murder and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon in relation to the crash, after allegedly telling investigators that he had accelerated towards the crowd in an attempt to clear cars acting as barricades.

[9] He admitted to the court that the night he killed Knajdek he was under the influence of illegal narcotics and that he intentionally drove his car into barricades that blocked the street.

[10] A series of protests and civil unrest in the U.S. city of Minneapolis began on June 3, 2021, as a reaction to the police killing of Winston Boogie Smith, a 32-year-old black American man.

[2] The evening of June 13, 2021, demonstrators blocked the intersection of West Lake Street and Girard Avenue for an event, with some playing volleyball and lawn games.

[2][3] At approximately 11:39 p.m. CDT, Nicholas Kraus, in a Jeep Cherokee, drove into the crowd at a high speed, striking a parked vehicle that had been used to block off the intersection to traffic, which then collided with protesters.

[2][3] Kraus was treated at a hospital and then booked into a Hennepin County jail that night on probable cause of criminal vehicular homicide, driving on a cancelled license, and providing false information to police.

[6] According to search warrants filed in court on June 15, 2021, officials believed that footage captured by a closed-circuit camera appeared to show that the car's brake lights did not activate prior to the crash.

[23] Three hours before the June 13, 2021, vehicle attack, a demonstrator had climbed a pole and spray painted a surveillance camera located at the intersection of West Lake Street and Girard Avenue.

[22] Minneapolis police said in a statement shortly after the attack that they believed that the driver may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol,[16][5] but field sobriety tests were not performed due to his injuries.