On Tuesday, 37 year old father of five, Alton Sterling who sold CDs in
front of a convenience store in Baton Rouge Louisiana was shot dead at
point blank by two police officers who responded to a 911 call. A female
called 911 to complain that there was black male standing in front of a
convenience store selling CDs. She said the CD seller brandished a gun
and told another man to leave the store front because he wasn’t supposed
to be there.
Two police officers, Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, responded to the complaint.
According to an eyewitness report to the Rouge collection, the victim
asked the police why they wanted to detain him but they approached
Sterling and yelled at him to get on the floor but he didn’t respond.
Shortly after, they lunged at him and tackled him to the ground. With
both officers on top of him, you could see his left hand by his side and
he barely struggled on the ground.
One of the officers believed to be Lake reached for his gun and then
pointed it at Sterling’s chest. One of the officers then yells at
Sterling: ‘You f****** move and I swear to God…’ then he screamed
“Gun, gun”
The officer with the gun shot him 5 times in quick successions and you could hear a woman in the background scream.
One of the police officers called for urgent help after Sterling had been shot but he was pronounced dead.
Several eyewitnesses have several angles of the shooting and whole altercation.
The store owner who said he has known Sterling for 6 years said he was
baffled and is hurt by the killing because Sterling was his friend and
he had given him permission to sell CDs in front of his store.
It was also revealed on Wednesday that Lake, a three-year-veteran of the
force, was previously put on administrative leave for his involvement
in another police killing of a black man in December 2014, but later
reinstated to the force.
Salamoni and Lake have both been put on administrative leave as the
fatal shooting is investigated. On Wednesday, a Department of Justice
spokesman announced that the agency would be looking into whether the
two police officers violated any civil liberties.
The first footage shows him being tackled, the second video is more
graphic. Please do not watch the 2nd video if you can’t take it.
There have been several peaceful protests in Baton Rouge, since Sterling’s death.
A video posted by TeaTenders (@teatenders_back_up) on
There have been several peaceful protests in Baton Rouge, since Sterling’s death on Tuesday.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Sterling’s widow spoke about the
impact his death has had on her family, as the oldest of their five
children – 15-year-old Cameron – broke down into hysterical sobs.
‘He [her son Cameron Sterling] had to watch this as this was put all
over the outlets,’ Quinyetta McMillan said.
‘As a mother I have now been forced to raise a son who is going to remember what happened to his father.’
Cameron had to be removed from the press conference by a relative.
Source: MSN/ ABC/TSR/Teatenders