All across the United States, Americans wept and reveal their agony anger over the police killings of two black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile in two days.
According to CNN, Sterling, who was selling CDs and DVD’s early Tuesday outside a Food Mart in Baton Rouge, was approached by a homeless man who had and for money.
The man persisted in his request for money, and Sterling out of annoyance showed him his gun.
“I told you to leave me alone,” Sterling told the man, according to a source.
It was the homeless man that used his cell phone that made the 911 call leading to Sterling’s death.
As if that wasn’t enough, another video was livestreamed via Facebook from Falcon Heights, outside Minneapolis, by a woman, Diamond Reynolds, showing the shooting’s aftermath of Philando Castile with the police officer still a few feet away.
The unidentified police officer still has his gun pointed on Diamond Reynolds bloodied fiancé – a dead Philando Castile.
“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,” Reynolds said as she broadcast the details of Wednesday’s evening shooting on Facebook.
“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,” Reynolds said as she narrated the event details of Wednesday’s evening shooting on Facebook.
Philando Castile is an African-American who worked as school nutrition services supervisor, according to his employer, he was popular among his colleagues and students and had no previous criminal record.
According to Reynolds, Castile was pulled over for a mere broken taillight, He told the officer he was armed and had a concealed carry permit, she said. Her daughter, 4, was in the back seat.
“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,” Reynolds said as she broadcast the Wednesday evening shooting on Facebook. Later she says, “Oh God, please don’t tell me my boyfriend is dead.”
Later in the day during interviews, Reynolds complained that other officers responding to the scene were more concerned about the condition of the officer who fired the shots than Castile.
She was even handcuffed and placed behind police vehicle on her way to detention at the police station.
According US President Barack Obama on the shootings, “This is not just a black issue.”
RnB and pop icon, Beyoncé, posted a message on her website, saying “It is up to us to take a stand and demand that they ‘stop killing us.'” She also provided a link for fans to contact their congressmen.
Valerie Castile, mother of Philando Castile, told a crowd gathered outside J.J. Hill Montessori Magnet School in St. Paul, where Castile worked, that somebody “needed to police the police.”
“It was my son today but it could be yours tomorrow,” she said. “This has to cease. This has to stop, right now.”
She also urged an economic boycott to bring attention to the killings of black men. “The only thing they know is money,” she said.
According to LaRhonda Talley “We are targets!” she said in an emotional speech in Minnesota about the consequences of being black in America. “We made it across the (Atlantic). We made it to freedom and you’re still killing us. You’re still hanging us from trees. You’re still killing us! Our lives matter!”
Four Police Officers Killed in Dallas
In a related development, as at 11:44 PM ET (New York), about 10 officers have been reportedly shot with four dead, and two are in surgery, according to the Dallas police chief, KDFW reported,
This followed a shooting that took place during protests in downtown Dallas. The protest was in connection to the police killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.
There is an active shooter situation in downtown Dallas and there are reports of two suspects.
Dallas Police Chief David O. Brown added that the shots came from two snipers.
Three of the officers are reported to be in critical condition.
