Sterling was shot and killed in the store’s parking lot during an altercation with two white officers responding to a 911 call about a man threatening someone with a gun.
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Footage of the moment Sterling was killed was captured on a mobile phone and contains images some readers may find distressing.
Sterling’s death, and the fatal shooting of a young black man in Minnesota by a police officer, renewed outrage against law enforcement’s treatment of minorities and also rekindled a national debate on race relations that began after police-involved killings two years ago. That killing, during a traffic stop in the midwestern U.S. state of Minnesota, was also captured on video and livestreamed by Castile’s girlfriend on Facebook. It was at one of those protests that a black sniper shot and killed five white police officers in Dallas, further heightening tensions.
In the first few days after Sterling’s death, police took a reserved approach to enforcement, keeping a low profile as hundreds gathered outside the convenience store where Sterling died.
A district attorney says his office won’t be prosecuting more than half of the almost 200 protesters who have been arrested in Baton Rouge since a deadly police shooting last week. The AP report said that court filings showed that one of Bridgewater’s accomplices told detectives that they broke into the pawn shop to steal guns so they could shoot police officers. “It’s sad to know we’re going to have an empty place in front of the store”.
Moore said DeRay Mckesson, a prominent Black Lives Matter activist, is among those who will not be prosecuted.
“These particular cases only involve facts where the person arrested failed to comply with an officer’s direction to leave the roadway or public passage”, Moore said. Moore said his office is reviewing the rest of the arrests, which include allegations such as resisting arrest, carrying guns or some “act of violence”.
In a funeral that was part home-going celebration and part political declaration, Sterling’s family and a slew of speakers said sweet, sorrowful goodbyes while calling for justice.
The press release notes that four protesters remain in the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison due to “other matters”.
District Attorney Hillar Moore of East Baton Rouge Parish, who earlier this week recused himself from Sterling’s case, said his officer won’t be prosecuting more than half of the almost 200 protesters arrested since the Dallas shooting.
The crowd included friends, family, activists and two senior advisers to President Barack Obama.
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One of the suspects said they did so to harm officers and Bridgewater told investigators his motivation was to sell stolen items for cash, an agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wrote in an affidavit filed Thursday in federal court. The ACLU of Louisiana and other groups filed a lawsuit earlier this week over the treatment of protesters by police.
