A Louisiana police officer shot and killed Sterling during a confrontation outside a Baton Rouge convenience store, authorities say, in a death that prompted a protest later in the day.
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“He was really confused”. But those who knew him said he kept one to protect himself from robbers.
Protesters and friends created a memorial to Sterling on the white folding tables and folding chair he had used to sell homemade music compilations on CDs.
David Harris, a University of Pittsburgh law professor who studies police behavior and regulation, said it was “unusual for the Department of Justice to step in so quickly”.
“I want my dad”, he said while his mother, Quinyetta McMillon, spoke about the injustice her dead husband suffered in the hands of the officers. “As a mother I have now been forced to raise a son who is going to remember what happened to his father”, she said.
Although he said the officers seemed to be “freaking out” after the shooting and were cursing, he heard one of them say, “Just leave him”.
When officers arrived on the scene a few minutes later, they immediately located the suspect, who was later identified as Alton Sterling.
Sterling was shot and killed early Tuesday morning after police responded to a complaint about an armed man threatening people outside a convenience store.
Kanye West shared a link to the footage on his Twitter page while Jesse Williams, who was praised for his powerful BET Awards speech on race last month, took to his own Twitter account after the shooting.
The officers wrestled him to the floor, and while he was pinned down one officer pulled a gun and shot Sterling several times at close range.
The victim is shown bleeding and slumping over in his seat.
The Baton Route police chief said his officers were responding to reports that a man threatened someone outside the store with a gun, but Sterling’s family said it was murder. “But I’m angry and I’m mad because they took something from me that I never ever will get back”.
There, around 8 p.m., Philadelphia police officers arrested 12 protesters and took them into custody at the 9th Precinct on North 21st Street. “How dare you?” she said in a live video uploaded to Facebook on Wednesday.
The Justice Department investigation will look into whether the officers wilfully violated Sterling’s civil rights through the use of unreasonable or excessive force.
Other speakers at the Baton Rouge event echoed Sandra Sterling’s call for peaceful demonstrations in her nephew’s name.
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In an open letter posted to Instagram, Drake sends his condolences to the Sterling family, and speaks of the troubling video which left him “feeling disheartened, emotional and truly scared”.
