Minnesota man Philando Castile shot and killed by cops during traffic stop; girlfriend pleads for help on Facebook livestream (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT)
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/man-shot-dead-minn-police-traffic-stop-article-1.2701935
A woman livestreamed the heartbreaking moments after her boyfriend was shot and killed by a cop near Minneapolis Wednesday.
In a Facebook video, Lavish Reynolds claims that the couple were pulled over for a busted taillight and that her boyfriend, identified by WCCO as Philando Castile, was shot four or five times.
She said that Castile told the officer he was carrying a permitted firearm and had been reaching for his wallet before the officer opened fire.
“Please no, don’t let him be gone. Why?!” Reynolds yells on her video as Castile, 32, slumps back in the driver’s seat of his car, blood running across his shirt.
A St. Anthony police officer can be seen outside the car, his gun drawn on Castile. Reynolds, who like Castile is black, describes him as Asian.
“I told him not to reach for it,” the cop says as he continues to point his weapon into the vehicle. “I told him to get his hand off it.”
Near the end of the clip, Reynolds starts to scream as she sits handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser with her young daughter.
Castile's girlfriend Diamond Reynolds livestreamed the moments directly after he was shot. At right, an unidentified officer points his weapon at Castile as he lies bleeding.
“It’s OK, mama,” the little girl says as her mother pleads for help from Facebook viewers. “It’s OK, I’m right here with you.”
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St. Anthony cops confirmed the shooting took place in Falcon Heights, a sleepy St. Paul suburb that hosts the state fair.
Castile, a cafeteria supervisor at a local Montessori school, later died at Hennepin County Medical Center.
In Reynolds' video, an officer said that she was being detained. An employee at the Ramsey County Communication Center confirmed early Thursday that she had been questioned by police and released, though did not have information about which police force questioned her.
On social media, Castile’s friends and relatives expressed their grief at the sudden and violent loss.
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"My family will never be the same!!! This has rocked me to the core!!! I lost my cousin to the hands of the police," IRok Wilson posted.
St. Anthony interim police chief Jon Mangseth told reporters Wednesday night that two of his officers were the ones at the traffic stop with Castile.
He said that he was aware of the Facebook video, which was taken down before being put back up early Thursday, but did not have details about it.
Mangseth said early Thursday that the officer who opened fire was on paid administrative leave. He also noted that he could not remember another officer-involved shooting in the immediate area.
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Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating the incident.
More than 100 people gathered at the scene of the shooting late Wednesday, according to Nekima Levy-Pounds, the president of the Minneapolis NAACP.
She told the Daily News early Thursday that “there is no reason why he should have wound up dead at the end of that encounter with the police. There have been white men who have been armed and had confrontations with the police and ended up alive.”
“Why did that officer feel the need to take his life and how is that acceptable in this society?” she asked, adding that the officers involved should be fired and prosecuted.
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She added that she was coordinating with the St. Paul NAACP about a response to the shooting.
Protesters including Levy-Pounds also gathered at the Governor's Mansion early Thursday, chanting Castile's name as late as 5:30 a.m. local time. They were also seen draping gates in police tape and shouting "no justice, no sleep."
Social media users also voiced their concerns over the shooting, which came less than 48 hours after the police shooting of Alton Sterling outside a convenience store in Baton Rouge, La.