Obama said it was clear the fatal shootings were not “isolated incidents”.
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Beyonce, who rose to stardom with catchy but largely apolitical hits such as insane in Love and Single Ladies, aligned herself with the Black Lives Matter movement in a video earlier this year for her song Formation.
Wrenching as the pictures from Baton Rouge were, they seemed like they had been seen before.
The next day in Minnesota, Philando Castile, 32, was shot to death during a traffic stop in suburban St. Paul.
Diamond Reynolds streamed the moments after the shooting, as Castile slumped next to her in the front of the vehicle, his white shirt soaked with blood and the officer standing a few feet away outside, his gun still drawn. Both videos quickly went viral. But with Castile? Her child would fist-bump him, she said, and hug his legs. At one point, her 4-year-old daughter tried to reassure her.
The deaths have sparked fresh demonstrations in the United States and President Barack Obama said on Thursday that the killings were “an American issue that we should all care about”.
Early Thursday morning protesters demanding justice rallied in front of Gov. Mark Dayton’s residence in St. Paul.
Yanez was named by a state agency investigating the shooting of Castile, along with his partner Joseph Kauser. He emphasized that he and other Americans appreciate the risks police officers take and mourn officers who die in the line of duty. “Would this have happened if those passengers, the driver and the passengers, were white?”
A co-worker said Castile was quiet, respectful and kind. No one else was injured. He said earlier a state investigation was already under way.
Law enforcement personnel transported Reynolds and her daughter to the Roseville Police Department, where Reynolds gave a statement to investigators about the incident. “He came into our lives and took something from us”, he told CNN.
A second “person of interest” had turned himself in, they said, although there was no word on the arrest of the second sniper. “I’m stunned by this”, she said. “I did so that the world knows that these police are not here to protect us”, she said.
“We just have all these videos telling us what we knew was happening all along”, Hall said.
The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday launched a civil rights investigation into the shooting, which took place after Sterling, who was black, scuffled with two white police officers outside a convenience store.
Police said a handgun was recovered at the scene.
UPDATE 3:39PM: DALLAS Mayor Mike Rawlings and the Dallas Police Chief David Brown have briefed the country on the aftermath of a shooting that has left four police officers dead and eight others wounded. Muflahi said the officers had Sterling pinned down, and he was not reaching for a gun when the officers fired.
Twitter users shot video where sounds of multiple gunshots can be heard. The incident was captured by bystanders on video and is being investigated by police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
It said the officer involved had been placed on paid administrative leave, as is standard procedure for Falcon Heights, which is about 6 miles (10 km) northeast of downtown Minneapolis.
There are unconfirmed reports that two police officers were shot around the intersection of Market and Commerce in downtown Dallas.
In the video that has been watched more than four million times, she said Mr Castile immediately stopped reaching for the glove box once the officer told him not to move.
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The newfound capability to essentially show these news events live online made the story especially powerful. “I think anybody that’s been on any social network in the past 72 hours couldn’t help but see what’s happening”.
