Police in Baton Rouge, La., say they’re investigating the killing of Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man who was shot to death after officers were called to a convenience store. Witnesses captured the encounter on a cellphone video that shows two officers had Sterling on the ground at the time of the shooting.
In the 48-second video that was filmed from a nearby car, one of the officers who were kneeling over Sterling is heard yelling “He’s got a gun! Gun!” At least one officer then draws a weapon from his holster and aims it at Sterling. Seconds later, shots are heard.
After that video emerged Tuesday, it helped propel protests that involved dozens of people — many of them blocking the street where the shooting occurred.
The shooting took place at the Triple S Food Mart on Baton Rouge’s North Foster Drive around 12:35 a.m. Tuesday. That’s when uniformed officers responded to a disturbance call that Baton Rouge police say came from someone who said “a black male who was selling music [CDs] and wearing a red shirt threatened him with a gun.”
0 Comments