Police pulled Castile and Reynolds over in a traffic stop Wednesday evening in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, near Minneapolis.
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Castile was a supervisor in the nutrition services department of St. Paul Public Schools, and had been working for the department since he was 19, the school district said in a statement.
Lavish Reynolds said she was in the vehicle with her boyfriend, Philando Castile, and her four-year-old daughter Dae-Anna when they were pulled over by police.
But as night fell in St. Paul and chanting continued, word spread about the shooting of several officers in Dallas after a protest march there.
He is at least the 506th person to die in police shootings in 2016.
State investigators named him as St. Anthony Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez but did not give his race; city police reports identified him as a member of the National Latino Police Officers Association.
Reynolds told Yanez, whose pistol still was aimed at Castile: “You told him to get his ID, sir, and his driver’s license”.
By now coast to coast (perhaps the world) as been shaken with emotions after the Police Shootings of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota – both just days after we Celebrated Independence Day as a Nation United Under God.
On Friday morning, a prosecutor from Minnesota made a statement regarding the investigation into the fatal police shooting of Philando Castile, saying that it is a top priority and calling for a “prompt and thorough investigation” into the death of the black man who was shot after being pulled over for a broken taillight.
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said he wants a federal investigation. Authorities believe an Army veteran, who was later killed by police, opened fired on the Dallas officers.
Tammi Curtis, a 50-year old grandmother, said her two grandsons, ages 8 and 11, were students at Castile’s school.
“And without him, I don’t know how we will be able to move forward from this”, she said.
“Please, officer, don’t tell me that you just did this to him”, Diamond Reynolds said in the video recording while her boyfriend, Philando Castile, slumped beside her.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Minnesota governor’s mansion in St. Paul to support family and friends grieving a black man fatally shot by police during a routine traffic stop.
Though the shooting took place in Falcon Heights, not St. Paul, Coleman said he was doing everything within his power to expedite the investigation, saying that waiting “six months or three months for answers” was too long.
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The social media footage also shows a conversation between the woman and a police officer, in which she remains totally calm. “Please, Jesus, don’t tell me that he’s gone”, she says in the video.
