Philando Castile. Another black man in the US killed by police in cold blood.
St. Anthony interim Police Chief Jon Mangseth said Philando Castile, 32, was fatally shot during a traffic stop at about 9 p.m. Wednesday.
Diamond Reynolds said she and her 4-year-old daughter were in the car. She livestreamed the immediate aftermath of the shooting, which showed Castile bleeding and dazed while the officer continues to point his gun, so that "the people can determine who was right and who was wrong," she said.
Gov. Mark Dayton expressed condolences to Castile's family and asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the shooting. FBI Director James Comey said he expects federal authorities to investigate the case.
President Obama issued a statement saying he was "deeply troubled" by the Minnesota shooting and the shooting of African American Alton Sterling a day earlier by police in Baton Rouge, La. Communities need to address the underlying issues that lead to such incidents and implement "ideas that can make a difference," Obama said.
Reynolds, in another livestream Thursday, said the officer who stopped them claimed they had a broken tail light. He asked for Castile's license and registration, and as Castile reached into his back pocket, Castile said "I have a firearm on me."
Comment: Warning: The following video taken in the aftermath of the shooting is very, very disturbing.
She said she began to yell "he has a permit," but the officer "took four or five shots for no reason."
"The police did this to me," Reynolds said, choking back tears. "They took an innocent man away from us. He didn't do anything, he actually did what police said."
She said she wasn't told Castile was dead until 3 a.m., and was treated like a prisoner while the police officer who shot Castile was comforted by other officers.
"I want justice," she said in the 21-minute video. "He should not be home with family. He should be somewhere in jail handcuffed."
She said police officers do not protect black people, they "are here to assassinate us."
In Wednesday's video, Reynolds explains what happened, saying, "They just killed my boyfriend." She said the officer fired "four or five times" and "shot his arm off." The officer can be heard swearing and screaming that he told him not to move and "not to reach for it." She responds saying he was only trying to grab his wallet to get his ID.
"Oh my God, please don't tell me he's dead," she said in the video. Later she speaks from the backseat of a police car, where she says she is handcuffed and still does not know the fate of Castile.
Castile's mother Valerie on Thursday told CNN her son was a law-abiding citizen who worked as a school cafeteria supervisor.
"They say there is no (racial) profiling but there is," Valerie Castile said. "We are being hunted every day. It's a silent war against African Americans as a whole.
"I want my leaders to step up and hold these people accountable."
She said the shootings keep occurring because there are no checks and balances in the criminal justice system.
"A lot of our African-American men, women and children are being executed by the police and there are no consequences," she told CNN. "Every day you hear of another black person being shot down, gunned down by the people who are supposed to protect us."
She said she went to the scene of the shooting but her son already had been rushed to a local hospital.
"I just wanted to see my son," Valerie Castile said. "I didn't want my son to die alone."
St. Paul Public Schools, for whom Castile worked as a cafeteria supervisor, issued a statement describing Castile as a cheerful, team player who "maintained great relationships with staff and students alike." He worked for the district since 2002, the statement said.
"I am deeply sorry for his family and for their loss," said schools Superintendent Valeria Silva. "He's worked in SPPS for many years and he graduated from our district, so he was one of our own."
this looks really fucking bad but after the Micheal Brown "hands up don't shoot" lie i'm going to wait until all the evidence is presented before forming a final opinion.
i will say though that the police are out of control.