Woman Live-Streams After Police Fatally Shoot Boyfriend
A man has died after being shot by a Minnesota police officer Wednesday night while inside a car with a woman and child, officials said.
The incident in Falcon Heights, a suburb of Saint Paul, appeared to be partly documented in a Facebook Live recording posted by a woman in the car, who identified herself as the man’s girlfriend. The video, which was briefly removed from Facebook but later republished with a graphic warning attached, has already been viewed close to 2 million times.
The deceased has been identified by family as Philando Castile and police have identified the woman filming the altercation as Diamond Reynolds.
Facebook Philando Castile, 32, was shot and killed by police in Minnesota during a traffic stop, July 6, 2016.
Nekima Levy-Pounds, the president of the NAACP Minneapolis chapter, also confirmed the man’s identity in a tweet early today.
UPDATE: #PhilandoCastile was killed by St. Anthony Police Dept. earlier tonight. He was a kitchen worker at JJ Hill at St. Paul Schools.
— Nekima Levy-Pounds (@nvlevy) July 7, 2016
The video, posted Wednesday night, appeared to show an incident similar to the one police described. The video showed Reynolds’ sitting in a car with Castile, whose shirt appeared to be soaked in blood, saying an officer shot her boyfriend.
Lavish Reynolds/Facebook Cell phone footage seen here shows the victim bleeding heavily in the passenger seat of a vehicle. The officer can be seen pointing a gun through the window in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, July, 6, 2016.
The extraordinary footage begins calmly with Reynolds narrating what happened as she trained the camera on Castile, whom she described as her boyfriend, and on at least one officer who was pointing a gun through the driver’s side window.
“Please, officer, “don’t tell me that you just did this to him,” she said. “You shot four bullets into him, sir. He was just getting his license and registration, sir.”
Reynolds can be heard saying on video that the officer “asked him for license and registration. He told him that it was in his wallet, but he had a pistol on him because he’s licensed to carry. 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 showed a uniformed police officer holding a pistol on the couple from outside the car. The officer can be heard saying, “I told him not to reach for it. I told him to get his hand out.”
Lavish Reynolds/Facebook Cell phone video, captured in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, shows Diamond Reynolds sitting in a car with Philando Castile, whose shirt appeared to be soaked in blood, saying an officer shot her boyfriend, July 6, 2016.
The St. Anthony Police Department said in a statement early Thursday that at 9 p.m. “a St. Anthony Police Officer effected a traffic stop on Larpenteur and Fry in the City of Falcon Heights, Minnesota. During the stop, shots were fired. One adult male was taken to the hospital. We have been informed that this individual is deceased.”
The police department acknowledged there may be video of the incident on social media, and added that no one else was injured and a handgun was recovered from the scene.
Prior to the statement announcing the man’s death, interim St. Anthony Police Chief Jon Mangseth told ABC Saint Paul affiliate KSTP-TV, “I don’t know the reason for the traffic stop or what the circumstances were.”
The officer involved has been placed on standard paid administrative leave. The name of the officer has not been released.
Around 200 people had gathered at the scene of the shooting overnight while dozens more began holding demonstrations outside the governor’s mansion.
Guessing there are 200+ people gathered now. #FalconHeightsShooting pic.twitter.com/CbLr4Lwzli
— Josh Rosenthal (@JRosenthalKSTP) July 7, 2016
Outside the Governor's Mansion. #PhilandoCastile #FalconHeightsShooting #AltonSterling #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/oUEpmtdqZo
— Black Lives MPLS (@BlackLivesMpls) July 7, 2016
