Caution: The video above contains graphic content.
Mere hours after videos of cops fatally shooting Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, took the country by storm, another black man was fatally shot by cops in America—with the aftermath livestreamed on Facebook.
Videos by VICE
Thirty-two-year-old Philando Castile, who worked at a local school cafeteria, was pulled over and shot during what appears to have been a routine traffic stop in the suburb of Falcon Heights outside St. Paul, Minnesota, on Wednesday night, as the New York Times reports.
The man was apparently pulled over for a broken taillight while driving with his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, and her four-year-old daughter. The cop seems to have shot Castile, who had a gun on him, as he reached for his license and registration.
That’s when Reynolds pulled out her phone and began filming. In the graphic video, which she streamed live on Facebook under the name Lavish Reynolds, Castile is slumped over in the driver’s seat with a bloodied arm. Remarkably, Reynolds remains calm as she deftly explains the situation, telling the camera Castile told the officer he had a gun in the car and was licensed to carry before reaching into the glove compartment.
“He told him that it was in his wallet, but he had a pistol on him because he’s licensed to carry,” she tells the camera. “The officer said, ‘Don’t move.’ As he was putting his hands back up, the officer shot him in the arm four or five times.”
The video, which as of Thursday morning had well over two million views, goes on to record Reynolds talking with police officers, as well as the cop’s incensed reaction to the incident.
“Fuck! I told him not to reach for it! I told him to get his hand [open],” a man, apparently the officer who killed Castile, can be heard shouting in the background. He repeats “Fuck!” multiple times.
The woman and her daughter were later taken to the police station to be interviewed, and Castile was taken to a nearby hospital where he was proclaimed dead.
The identity of the officer involved has not been released, but St. Anthony interim police chief Jon Mangseth, whose department handles Falcon heights, told the Times he’s been put on administrative leave. The chief also confirmed that the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension will lead the investigation on the shooting, although local NAACP president Nekima Levy-Pounds, as well as US congresswoman Betty McCollum, have asked that it be handed off to the feds for an independent investigation.
According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the video sparked protests at the site of the shooting, as well as outside the governor’s mansion in St. Paul early Thursday. People shouted “No Justice, No Peace!” and “Wake Up,” echoing the anger and frustration that boiled over after Sterling’s killing on Tuesday.
In a police car just after the shooting, Reynolds’s daughter can be heard on the livestream comforting her mother. “It’s OK, Mommy. It’s OK. I’m right here with you.”
Read: Alton Sterling’s Killing Shows How Important It Is to Film Cops
Thumbnail photo via Facebook
