A search warrant for surveillance video from the store where a black Louisiana man was killed by white police officers a week ago says that officers saw “the butt of a gun” in Alton Sterling’s pocket during the arrest and that he tried “to reach for the gun from his pocket”.
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Police say they arrested the suspects and are seeking a possible fourth accused of stealing several handguns as part of an alleged plot to harm cops in the Baton Rouge area. Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said in a statement that he won’t have access to the federal investigation on the shooting until it’s completed and a decision has been made on potential federal charges.
One person was arrested during a weekend burglary of a pawn shop, in which eight guns were stolen, Dabadie told reporters. Spokesmen for the Baton Rouge Police Department did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Since Saturday, detectives have arrested two other suspects in the case, including a 13-year-old.
The Daily Beast reports that Abdullah Muflahi owned the convenience store where Sterling was shot.
After multiple shots were fired into the chest and back of 37-year-old Sterling, Muflahi asserts that Officer Blane Salamoni instructed responding officers Lt. Robert Cook and Officer Timothy Ballard to seize the “entire store security system” and detain the rattled convenience store owner.
During a confrontation Sunday evening near an interstate ramp, a police officer in an armored vehicle had warned protesters over a loudspeaker that they would be arrested if they didn’t leave the area. I hope with all my heart that these police officers will be brought to justice by the very system they’ve abused and hidden behind for so long. He sued two officers involved in the shooting, two officers investigating it, the chief of police and the city.
Police didn’t immediately release the names of the suspects but said they all are from Baton Rouge and all are black. “If you don’t have on riot gear, you have no defense against that sort of thing”, said the Democratic governor, who comes from a family of sheriffs.
The man who filmed the death of Alton Sterling last week has filed a lawsuit against the city claiming that he was illegally detained following the shooting.
His death, as well as the killing of Philando Castile, 32, by a white police officer in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, on Wednesday, sparked a series of anger-fueled protests against police brutality across the country.
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A demonstrator protesting the shooting death of Alton Sterling is detained by law enforcement near the headquarters of the Baton Rouge Police Department in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. July 9, 2016. Amnesty International has questioned the high number of arrests. The two men have showed up at protests and urged calm.
