Video captures the minutes just after US police fatally shoot another black man

A US woman has used Facebook Live to capture the aftermath of the moment a police officer fatally shot her boyfriend during a routine traffic stop.

Philando Castile

Minnesota man Philando Castile died after he was shot by a police officer during a routine traffic stop. Source: Facebook

A graphic video has captured the moments immediately after a Minnesota police officer fatally shot a black man during a routine traffic stop.

Philando Castile, 32, was shot dead in Falcon Heights, Minnesota by a St. Anthony Police officer who had pulled him over for having a broken tail light.

A woman who says she is Mr Castile's girlfriend, identified by  as Diamond Reynolds, filmed the aftermath of the shooting and broadcast it on Facebook Live.

Her four-year-old daughter was also in the car.



The video has since been taken down from Facebook but has been shared on Twitter.

Due to the graphic nature of the footage, SBS News has chosen not to place the original uncensored footage in this story, however the video can be viewed .

"Stay with me," Ms Reynolds said calmly.

"We got pulled over for a busted tail-light and the police - he's killed my boyfriend.

"He was trying to get his licence, his ID, out of his pocket and he let the officer know that he had a firearm and he was reaching for his wallet and the officer just shot him in his arm."

The graphic footage shows Mr Castile slumped in the driver's seat with blood on his shirt while the police officer continues to point his gun through the window.

The police officer, whose face is not visible, sounds near-hysterical as he screams at Ms Reynolds to keep her hands where he can see them.

"I told him not to reach for it, I told him to get his hand off it," the officer said.

Ms Reynolds responds: "You told him to get his ID, sir, his driver's licence".

Mr Castile then slumps sideways and Ms Reynolds says, "My don't tell me he's dead, please don't tell me my boyfriend just went like that" while in the background the police officer is heard to say "Oh fuck".

Ms Reynolds is then pulled out of the car and handcuffed and the video continues while her phone is on the ground.

She can be heard crying and praying and recounting what happened.

It then cuts to Ms Reynolds, still handcuffed, in the back of a police car with her daughter.

She says the police officer, who she describes as "Chinese", shot her boyfriend "four or five times" for "no apparent reason".

Towards the end of the video the incident seems to overwhelm Ms Reynolds who starts to scream and cry.

Her daughter can be heard in the background trying to comfort her mother.

"It's OK mummy," she said.

"It's OK, I'm right here with you."

WCCO reported Mr Castile, worked as a cafeteria supervisor at J.J. Hill Montessori School, later died at Hennepin County Medical Centre. 

St Anthony Police’s interim chief Sergeant Jon Mangseth told reporters the department had not had "an officer-involved shooting in, you know, 30 years or more".

He confirmed two officers were involved in the shooting and the woman and child in the car were unharmed.

Man selling CDs shot

The Minnesota shooting follows the police shooting of Alton Sterling, 37, who was selling CDs outside of convenience story in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Tuesday. 

Graphic video images also emerged of Mr Sterling's death and lead to protests and social media outcry.

One officer shot Sterling five times at close range, and the other took something from his pants pocket as he was dying, according to images recorded by Abdullah Muflahi, owner of the Triple S Food Mart where Sterling was killed in the parking lot.

"I'm heartbroken. It's outrageous. It's crazy," said Muflahi, who considered Sterling a friend and allowed him to sell CDs outside his store. He provided a copy of the video to Reuters and said police took a gun from Sterling's pocket.

Several hundred people gathered for a prayer vigil near the spot where Sterling was killed, with speakers urging peaceful protests, justice and unity in the face of "excessive force" used by police against black residents.

"If we stand divided, we are already defeated," Bishop Gregory Cooper of Baton Rouge told the crowd, including families with children, that filled the parking lot and nearby streets. Police stayed on the fringes of the gathering.

Many people stayed hours after the service and a brass band joined a large, peaceful nighttime march circling the store. A local artist had painted a mural of Sterling on the wall just feet from where he was shot.

Officials scrambled to defuse tension, saying there would be an independent investigation, after media showed a separate graphic video of the shooting recorded by a bystander.

"I have very serious concerns. The video is disturbing, to say the least," Governor John Bel Edwards told reporters.

Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden and police said they welcomed the probe launched by the Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and federal prosecutors.

- with Reuters


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5 min read
Published 7 July 2016 4:43pm
Updated 8 July 2016 9:19am
Source: SBS News


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