The videos of their shootings and their aftermath, particularly the one shot in real time by Castile’s girlfriend, were unnerving, horrifying.
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PAUL-A county prosecutor investigating the police shooting of a black motorist in Minnesota on Friday, July 8, said law enforcement authorities in his state and nationwide must improve practices and procedures to prevent future such tragedies, regardless of the outcome of his probe.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is leading the investigation, has not released details about the incident.
The same week Castile and were killed, a gunman killed five police officers at a Black Lives Matter rally in Dallas. And a man who killed one person and wounded three others _ including an officer _ in Tennessee apparently told investigators he was motivated by the recent killings of black men by police. “For a black male with dreadlocks, that ambiguous action would produce fear in many people”. “He was really nice to everyone and he was one of the kindest people in the whole school”, they said.
He also acknowledged the wide reach of the Facebook video, noting “what is depicted in the video, it just makes you sad to watch all of that unfold”.
Less than 24 hours after Castile died, Dayton declared that police likely wouldn’t have fired if Castile’s skin were a different color.
“Would this have happened if those passengers would have been white?”
Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie Jr. said his department has strived to avoid a “military-style response” to the protest that following Tuesday’s fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alton Sterling during a struggle with two officers.
If my heart was heavy after the police-involved shootings of African-American men in Louisiana and Minnesota, waking up to the news of the slaughter of police officers in Dallas has broken it.
Diamond Reynolds, Castile’s fiancée, live-streamed the event on Facebook, causing widespread outrage.
The police officer appears agitated and still has his gun pointed in the vehicle as Castile bleeds and tells Reynolds to keep her hands where he can see them. “You told him to get his ID, sir, his driver’s license”, Reynolds responded, in a calm tone.
Yanez and an officer who was with him, Joseph Kauser, were put on administrative leave, as is standard, authorities said. Yanez opened fire, striking Castile multiple times. In Louisiana, a man was accused of posting a video online showing him in his vehicle behind a police auto, saying he wanted to shoot and kill an officer.
The woman who identified herself as Castile’s girlfriend used Facebook Live to broadcast what happened following the shooting.
“This was a mobile shooter who had written manifestos on how to shoot and move, shoot and move, and that’s what he did”, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said.
The St. Anthony Police Department’s 2015 annual report points to Yanez’s volunteerism; he gave a tour of the station to a local Cub Scout troop and volunteered with St. Paul’s Cinco De Mayo celebration, participating in a parade with other members of the National Latino Police Officers Association.
The previous year’s report includes a photo of Yanez solemnly standing guard at a memorial to fallen officers at the state Capitol. Yanez’s attorney, Thomas Kelly, didn’t return a call seeking comment Thursday.
The U.S. Justice Department, which immediately launched a civil rights investigation into the Baton Rouge shooting, said it would monitor Minnesota’s investigation. Dayton said he and other state officials would ask for stronger federal involvement.
At a vigil Thursday evening outside a Montessori school where Castile worked, his mother, Valerie Castile called her son “an angel”. Where is the reasonable fear of death if a suspect says he is complying with a police officer’s order and reaching for his identification?
“This has to cease”.
-To those who say, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people”: Let me tell you something-people with guns kill people.
Minnesota’s capital kept its cool entering a third straight day of protests over the killing of a black man at the hands of police, with demonstrators encamped outside the governor’s mansion looking set for the long haul. The group swelled to over 1,000 for a time late Thursday, as people marched from the school vigil.
Some 200-300 protesters with a large supply of donated food and water were still there as midnight approached.
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“In the last couple of years we’ve seen this violence become an ever-present reality in our lives”, Lenz said.
