Early Thursday morning, in the hours after Castile was shot during a traffic stop, demonstrators first assembled at the Governor’s Residence to call for action in the wake of the killing.
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On Wednesday night, Castile died after Yanez approached his auto from the driver’s side during a traffic stop in the St. Paul suburb of Falcon Heights, according to Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA).
Philando Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who recorded his last moments live on Facebook, said his death was part of a larger problem.
Yesterday, Reynolds said the officer fired five times, authorities did not check Castile for a pulse and it took 15 minutes for paramedics to arrive. “Oh my God, please don’t tell me he’s dead, please don’t tell me my boyfriend just went like that.You shot four bullets into him, sir”, the woman, identified on her Facebook page as Lavish Reynolds, is heard saying.
The video she streamed on Facebook Live shows her in a auto next to a bloodied Mr Castile slumped in a seat.
Other officers and members of the St. Paul Fire Department provided Castile medical attention until an ambulance arrives, the BCA reported. “I don’t think it would have”, Mr Dayton said to the crowd.
Thursday afternoon, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton delivered remarks to the press regarding the officer involved shooting of an African-American man in the Minneapolis-St.
Castile was shot Wednesday during a traffic stop. The footage also showed Reynolds and her calm interactions with the officer still brandishing a pistol before she later broke down and yelled in despair, hoping Castile had not died.
“They killed him while he was still wearing his seat belt”, she said.
“I’m scared of the police”, she said. She described him as her best friend, and was distraught speaking about his death.
Dayton all but called Castile’s death in a St. Paul suburb an act of racism. A town of just 5,000, it’s also home to a subsection of the massive University of Minnesota campus.
Like most of Minnesota, it’s primarily white. St. Paul police say they will maintain a presence in the area for safety purposes.
Yanez approached Castile’s vehicle from the driver’s side, and Kauser from the passenger side. The Register reports it has multiple sources alleging it was the police who deleted the video from Reynolds’ account.
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The Castile shooting came hours after the U.S. Justice Department said it had opened an investigation into two police officers fatally shooting a black man in Baton Rouge, Louisianna, Tuesday.
