A white police officer fatally shot a black man during a traffic stop in the Minneapolis area, local law enforcement said on Thursday, and the victim’s fiancee streamed live footage of the gruesome aftermath on the internet.
The death of the man identified by family as Philando Castile, 32, came hours after the U.S. Justice Department said it had opened an investigation into Tuesday’s fatal shooting of a black man in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, by two police officers.
“I never once in my life would have thought that my son would be killed by the persons that were supposed to protect and serve him,” his mother, Valerie Castile, said on CNN.
The use of force by police against blacks in cities from Ferguson, Missouri, to Baltimore and New York has come under heavy scrutiny.
Valerie Castile described her son as a “laid back” but industrious man who worked as a school cafeteria supervisor and enjoyed playing video games. He had a permit to carry a concealed weapon, she said.
Castile, who was waiting for permission to see her son’s body, said she wanted the officer to be prosecuted.
A statement from the St. Anthony Police Department said only that an unidentified black man was wounded during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, at 9 p.m. local time. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died.
A woman, whom family identified as Castile’s fiancee, streamed a 10-minute video on Facebook and posted it on YouTube shortly after the shooting.
PROTEST AT GOVERNOR’S MANSION
Local media showed protesters on Thursday morning gathered outside of the mansion of Governor Mark Dayton in St. Paul, about 10 miles (15 km) southeast of the scene of the incident.
The video began with the woman in the passenger seat describing what had happened moments before while a black man covered in blood sat in the driver’s seat as a police officer pointed a gun into the vehicle.
The woman said her boyfriend had just been pulled over for a broken tail light and explained that he had a gun he was licensed to carry.
“He was trying to get out his ID and his wallet out of his pocket,” she said. “He let the officer know that he had a firearm and that he was reaching for his wallet, and the officer just shot him in his arm.”
Police said a handgun was recovered at the scene and that the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was investigating the incident.
“F**k,” a distraught man is heard screaming in the video. “I told him not to reach for it.”
Officers told the woman to keep her hands up as a small child is heard briefly crying in the background.
“He doesn’t deserve this,” the woman was heard saying as she cried in the video. “He was a good man.”
