Sterling, 37, died on July 5 outside a supermarket in the city of Baton Rouge when police wrestled him to the ground and shot him, saying he had a gun. “Yet Alton Sterling is on the long list of Black people killed needlessly by our nation’s police, and protests in his honor have turned into circuses of violence where the First Amendment is tossed aside”.
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Sterling was shot and killed by police after a confrontation with officers at a convenience store, where he was apparently selling CDs outside. 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.
Among the mourners was Darrell Jupiter, a landscaper and close friend of Sterling’s who came to the visitation inside the basketball arena at Southern University, a historically black college in north Baton Rouge.
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Mr Sterling’s death heightened tensions in Baton Rouge.
Their deaths sparked worldwide protests that saw five police officers killed and seven injured by a lone gunman in Dallas.
Among those in attendance at today’s funeral are two of President Barack Obama’s senior advisers, Roy Austin and Stephanie Young, according to the Associated Press.
“Nobody condones killing cops, nobody stands up for what happened in Dallas, but I want to see some of you stand up in Louisiana and say we think it is wrong when cops do wrong”, Sharpton told the congregration. The ACLU of Louisiana and other groups filed a lawsuit earlier this week over the treatment of protesters by police. Officers were responding to an anonymous call that he had threatened someone with a gun.
About 200 people were arrested in Baton Rouge during protests last week with demonstrators accusing the police of heavy-handed tactics.
“If Mr LeDay had paid his fines or appeared in Court and settled the matter approximately two years ago, a warrant for Failure to Appear would not have been issued and Mr. LeDay would not have been arrested on these charges”, said Mark Stevens, Dunwoody police department’s public information officer.
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A Baton Rouge man accused of stealing guns from a pawn shop told investigators he was motivated by money, despite claims that an alleged accomplice said they stole firearms to shoot police officers.
