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Minnesota Police Fatally Shoot A Man In His Car
The day after Alton Sterling was shot and killed by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, another Black man was fatally shot in Minnesota by a police officer. The man, identified as Philando Castile, was reportedly pulled over by police for a broken taillight. Castile's girlfriend, Lavish Reynolds, was sitting in the car next to him and captured the aftermath of the shooting on her cellphone.
In the heartbreaking video that Reynolds shared to Facebook, you can hear her saying that the “police shot him for no apparent reason, no reason at all.” And that's precisely what happened. Reynolds' boyfriend died for having a broken taillight. In her video, Reynolds recalled that the police officer “asked him for license and registration," later adding, “He told him that it was in his wallet, but he had a pistol on him because he’s licensed to carry." Castile was licensed to carry a gun, and was therefore legally carrying a gun, and although he informed the police officer of this, he still died.
"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,” Reynolds said in the video. Castile was 32 years old.
In Reynolds' video, you can hear the officer saying, “I told him not to reach for it. I told him to get his hand out.” But that's exactly what Castile did: He was instructed, by the police officer, to retrieve his license and registration, which were in his wallet, and that's what he was doing before he put his hands back up.
Castile was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center for immediate treatment. However, updates from a CBS affiliate in Minnesota reported that Castile has since died in the hospital from the gunshot wounds.
Although the Minnesota police officer pulled Castile over for a broken taillight, which was the confirmed reason according to Reynold's video, a witness at the scene pointed out that both of Castile's taillights were working.