A witness to the fatal officer involved shooting in Falcon Heights last night livestreamed the aftermath onto Facebook. The second US police involved shooting in two days has sparked a protest outside Governor Dayton’s residence in St. Paul.
The Star Tribune reports:
A St. Paul man died Wednesday night after being shot by police in Falcon Heights, the aftermath of which was recorded in a video widely shared on Facebook in which the man’s girlfriend says the “police shot him for no apparent reason, no reason at all.”
Friends at the scene identified the man as Philando Castile, 32, cafeteria supervisor at J.J. Hill Montessori School in St. Paul.
Castile’s cousin said on her Facebook page that he was dead. Castile’s uncle, Clarence Castile, who was at Hennepin County Medical Center with other family members, said Philando died at 9:37 p.m., a few minutes after arriving at the hospital.
The girlfriend started the live-stream video with the man in the driver’s seat slumped next to her, his white T-shirt soaked with blood on the left side. In the video, taken with her phone, she says they were pulled over at Larpenteur Avenue and Fry Street for a broken taillight.
The moments after the shooting was livestreamed on Facebook by Castile’s girlfriend. (Warning: Graphic Video)
At 2am on July 7, 2016, Police held a press briefing about the shooting:
Protesters gathered outside the Governor’s mansion in St. Paul, chanting “No Justice, No Sleep,” to protest the fatal shooting. (Livestream video of the protest by UnicornRiotMedia here.)
3:30 a.m.
About 200 people are gathered outside the Minnesota Governor’s Residence in St. Paul, protesting the fatal shooting of a man by a suburban police officer.
The crowd chanted early Thursday morning, demanding action from Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton. Police prevented vehicles from approaching, but music blared from a car parked just outside the gate, which protesters festooned with yellow police line tape.
“No justice, no sleep,” the protesters chanted. “Mark Dayton, do you care?”
It wasn’t immediately clear if the governor was home. The lights inside the mansion were mostly off.
Dayton’s spokesman didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry from The Associated Press.
The crowd outside of the governor’s mansion is just getting bigger #PhilandoCastile #FalconHeights pic.twitter.com/QpAUIsEuXR
— |||| || ||| | |||| | (@micamaryjane) July 7, 2016
The victim’s mother appeared on CNN this morning to talk about her son and his death.
“I have not identified my son’s body because they didn’t let me” —#PhilandoCastile‘s mother https://t.co/gZQN7xKRRx https://t.co/2T7LH4Cjjv
— CNN (@CNN) July 7, 2016
(via https://t.co/NPLd7drR9U ) CNN: RT NewDay: Valerie Castile: What’s the difference in complying if you get kil… https://t.co/iNyxWVvIfv
— Peter Davis (@Morpheyous) July 7, 2016