Castile supervised two employees and ran the cafeteria for a school with 530 students and 85 staff. It said Yanez opened fire, striking Castile multiple times. She says Castile told the officer that he had a licensed firearm and the officer asked for Castile’s driver’s license and registration.
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Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said he was “shocked and deeply, deeply offended” that an incident like this took place in Minnesota. According to investigators, Yanez approached the vehicle from the driver’s side, while Kauser approached it from the passenger side. “I don’t think so”, the governor declared.
Adding his voice to a growing public outcry, Obama said the shootings were symptoms of a “broader set of racial disparities” in the justice system that aren’t being fixed quickly enough. The Justice Department said it planned to monitor the state probe and would provide assistance if needed.
Protesters stayed outside the Govenor’s Mansion overnight, calling for him to make a statement and prosecute the officers involved in the fatal shooting. Singer and Houston-native Beyonce also released a statement calling on the need to take a stand. She said she made the recording “because I wanted everyone in the world to know that no matter how much the police tamper with evidence, how much they stick together … they manipulate our minds to believe what they want”. She goes on to say that “we don’t need sympathy”.
Earlier on Thursday, Jay Z’s wife Beyonce addressed the police brutality by posting a call to action on her website and asking for a moment of silence at her Glasgow show, while projecting dozens of victims’ names onstage.
The shooting deaths in Louisiana and Minnesota this week were partially captured in cell phone videos that quickly went viral and sparked renewed discussions about fatal police force against African-Americans.
Both shooting incidents were caught on video. The U.S. Department of Justice said it will investigate that death.
Relatives were outraged that Castile was not tended to after he was shot.
The video was posted to a Facebook account for Lavish Reynolds and runs more than nine minutes.
William Moulder is a police consultant and longtime former police chief in Des Moines. A woman identifying herself as his girlfriend live streamed the immediate aftermath to Facebook.
“Everyone just started running”, said Devante Odom, 21.
Diamond Reynolds, the girlfriend of Philando Castile, weeps during a press conference at the Governor’sResidence in St. Paul, Minn., Thursday, July 7, 2016.
He continued, “To admit we’ve got a serious problem in no way contradicts our respect and appreciation for the vast majority of police officers who put their lives on the line to protect us every single day”. That begins with common sense reforms like ending racial profiling, providing better training on de-escalation and implicit bias, and supporting municipalities that refer the investigation and prosecution of police-involved deaths to independent bodies. “I ask everybody on Facebook, everybody that’s watching, everybody that’s tuned in, please pray for us”.
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That’s when the officer, she said, drew his weapon and fired off up to five shots at Castile, ordering, “Don’t move, don’t move”. Sterling matched the description, and when police arrived on the scene, he was reportedly pinned to the ground on his back and shot point blank in the chest by one of the officers. It was unclear whether other footage exists. Castile had worked for the St. Paul school district since he was 19. A principal described him as “a warm person and a gentle spirit” who loved his job and never missed work.
