Family and friends of Sterling as well as high profile activists, including civil rights leaders Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton attended the service Friday at Southern University, a historically black college.
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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. A day after Sterling’s death, Philando Castile was shot and killed by a police officer in Minnesota during a traffic stop with his girlfriend streaming the aftermath of the black man’s death live in Facebook.
She said the encounter Sterling had with police “went too far” as police tackled him and used a stun gun on him. His death prompted protests and heightened tensions in the US along with last week’s deadly police shooting of a black man in Minnesota and the killing of five police officers in Dallas. Police arrested Malik Bridgewater, 20, and two other suspects on theft and burglary charges after eight handguns were stolen from a pawn shop.
Sterling was killed July 5 in front of a convenience store by two white police officers.
Moore said they involve protesters who were arrested only on misdemeanor charges of obstruction of a roadway or public passage.
The casket of Alton Sterling is placed into a hearse during his funeral at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La. One of the suspects said they did so to harm officers; another one said he did it to sell the guns, authorities said. Then the fatal shooting of five police officers in Dallas by a Black sniper heightened tensions even more.
The campus resides just a few miles from where Sterling lost his life, after being shot at point-range by said law enforcement officials from the Baton Rouge Police Department, after being pinned to the ground outside the Triple S convenience store.
Three other people have been booked in what police term a “credible threat” against officers publicized Tuesday after the suspects were connected to the recent burglary of the Cash American Pawn Shop, where firearms were taken.
Police arrested a third suspect, a 13-year-old boy, on Monday while a fourth suspect remained at large.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana had filed a lawsuit earlier this week over police treatment of protesters.
Among those who will not be prosecuted is DeRay Mckesson, a leading figure in the call for police reform who has risen to national prominence with the increasing visibility of the Black Lives Matter movement.
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Meanwhile, a man involved in what police have described as a credible threat to harm police officers made his initial appearance in federal court Friday.
