As
Philando Castile's head slumps backward while he lies dying next to
her, Diamond Reynolds looks directly into the camera and explains that a
Minnesota police officer just shot her fiancé four times.
The
nation is, by now, accustomed to grainy cell phone videos of
officer-involved shootings, but this footage from Falcon Heights,
outside Minneapolis, is something different, more visceral: a woman
live-streaming a shooting's aftermath with the police officer a few feet
away, his gun still trained on her bloody fiancé.
"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.
Castile, an African-American, was a
school nutrition services supervisor who was popular among his
colleagues and students, according to his employer.
He
had been pulled over for a busted tail light, Reynolds explained on the
Facebook video. He told the officer he was armed and had a concealed
carry permit, she said. Her daughter, 4, is in the back seat.
As
she speaks, Castile's wrists are crossed. Blood covers the bottom of
his white T-shirt sleeve and a large area around his sternum and left
rib cage. Perhaps in shock or agony, he peers emptily upward.
'You shot four bullets into him, sir'
Though
you can't see the St. Anthony police officer's face, you can hear the
agitation in his voice as he tells Reynolds to keep her hands where he
can see them.
Composed, as she remains through much of the video, Reynolds replies, "I will, sir, no worries. I will."
The officer still sounds distressed as he explains, "I told him not to reach for it. I told him to get his hand off it."
Moments later, Reynolds pleads with God and then the officer as she realizes Castile won't likely make it.
"Please don't tell me this, Lord.
Please, Jesus, don't tell me that he's gone. Please don't tell me that
he's gone," she said. "Please, officer, don't tell me that you just did
this to him. You shot four bullets into him, sir. He was just getting
his license and registration, sir."
She
continues pleading outside the car as officers approach her with guns
drawn. One orders her to her knees, and the phone begins filming the
sky.
"Please Jesus, no. Please no.
Please no, don't let him be gone," Reynolds says before officers place
her and her daughter in the back of the police car.
Later, at Hennepin County Medical Center, her fears were confirmed: Her 32-year-old fiancé was gone.
His death came a day after an officer-involved shooting that was filmed by bystanders in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Alton Sterling, 37, died in that shooting, sparking mourning and outrage across the country. It also comes eight months after the police killing of Jamar Clark
in Minneapolis, which spurred demonstrations in March when a prosecutor
announced that officers involved in Clark's death would not be charged.
'Devastated'
Castile's mother told CNN Thursday that
he and his sister had stopped by her house earlier Wednesday, and during
the visit, they had discussed the dangers of carrying weapons, even
though both of them have concealed carry permits.
"I
really don't even want to carry my gun because I'm afraid that they'll
shoot me first and then ask questions later," Valerie Castile eerily
recalled her daughter saying.
She
learned of the shooting via phone calls from people witnessing the live
stream on Facebook, she said. When she and her daughter arrived on the
scene, they weren't permitted to speak to Reynolds, she said.
By
the time she arrived at the hospital, the grieving mother said, her son
was already dead and authorities wouldn't let her see him or identify
him. Police won't let her ID him until Friday, she said.
"Right
about now, it's not looking too good because I'm not getting the
answers that I'm asking for," she said. "They're telling me that they
don't know anything, so I don't know anything."
'He had a permit to carry'
"Outraged"
by her son's death, Valerie Castile said he was a law-abiding citizen
who did nothing wrong. She called her son "legitimate all the way across
the board."
"He had a permit to
carry, but with all of that, trying to do the right things and live
accordingly by the law, he was killed by the law," she said. "A lot of
our African-American men, women and children are being executed by the
police and there are no consequences. So, in essence, I feel like it's
becoming more and more repetitive. Every day you hear of another black
person being shot down, gunned down by the people that are supposed to
protect us."
Philando's uncle,
Clarence Castile, said the images of his nephew dying marked the "most
horrific thing I've ever seen in my life." He also cast a critical eye
on the nation's police.
"We hear
about things like this happening all the time around the United States
and the world, people being harmed and abused by people that we're
supposed to trust with our lives, people that are supposed to serve and
protect us. And they tend to be our executioners and judges and
murderers."
School mourns
Clarence
Castile said that Philando was "so docile and laid back," it's
difficult to understand how anyone might perceive him as a threat. The
last time the two spoke was in May. They talked about setting up a nest
egg for Philando's eventual retirement.
His mother said, "He worked an honest job five days a week."
St. Paul Public Schools issued a
statement saying he was not only a valued and widely loved employee, but
a product of the school district, having graduated from Central High
School in 2001.
He began working for the school district the following year and was promoted to supervisor two years ago.
"Colleagues
describe him as a team player who maintained great relationships with
staff and students alike. He had a cheerful disposition and his
colleagues enjoyed working with him. He was quick to greet former
coworkers with a smile and hug," the statement said.
'Black in the wrong place'
A coworker said Philando Castile was also quiet, respectful and kind.
"Kids
loved him. He was smart, over-qualified," the unnamed coworker said in
the school district statement. "I knew him as warm and funny; he called
me his 'wing man.' He wore a shirt and tie to his supervisor interview
and said his goal was to one day 'sit on the other side of this table.'"
Valerie
Castile said "they took a very good person" when her son was killed,
and wondered whether he was simply "black in the wrong place."
"Everybody
that knows my son knows that he is a laid back, quiet individual that
works hard every day, pays taxes and comes home and plays video games.
That's it," she said. "He's not a gang banger. He's not a thug. He's
very respectable. And I know he didn't antagonize that officer in any
way to make him feel like his life was threatened."
An ongoing investigation
Sgt.
Jon Mangseth, interim chief of the St. Anthony police, said two
officers were present when the shooting occurred -- a primary officer,
who he believes has more than five years of experience, and a backup
officer. Having both is standard procedure for the department, which has
jurisdiction over Falcon Heights.
St. Anthony police don't have body cameras, according to office manager Kim Brazil.
One
officer has been placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard
procedure, Mangseth said at a short news conference early Thursday. No
police were injured.
"We will release the information as we learn it, and we will address concerns as we are faced with them," he said.
Mangseth
said he hadn't seen the video, but he knows about it. The nearly
10-minute video garnered more than 1 million views before it was pulled
from Facebook. It was then re-released on the social media platform with
a graphic warning.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal
Apprehension Assistance is investigating the shooting, Mangseth said. An
autopsy was under way Thursday morning at the Hennepin County Medical
Examiner's Office, a spokeswoman said.
Protests, vigil
By
early Thursday, protesters had begun to gather outside Minnesota
governor's residence. A community vigil and march was being organized
for Thursday evening, beginning at J.J. Hill Montessori Magnet School in
St. Paul.
Gov. Mark Dayton released a statement saying he extended his condolences to those who knew Castile.
"I
will do everything in my power to help protect the integrity of that
investigation, to ensure a proper and just outcome for all involved," he
said.
Speaking earlier in the day at an NAACP press conference, he vowed, "Justice will be served in Minnesota."
The
U.S. Justice Department released a statement saying it "is aware of the
incident and is assessing the situation." President Barack Obama is
also following the situation and is "deeply disturbed" by the Castile
shooting, as well as the Sterling shooting in Baton Rouge, said White
House spokesman Josh Earnest.
I'm right here'
Reynolds
narrates the shooting throughout much of the video -- alerting her
followers and the viewing public to what was happening.
She's calm and composed at first; a striking juxtaposition to the officers outside the vehicle.
Outside Castile's car, Reynolds begins to cry and lose her composure. She wails. Police can also be heard in the background.
The camera keeps pointing up at the sky, before it goes black while the voices continue.
Reynolds eventually gets the phone again and begins filming from the back seat of the police car with her little girl.
She seems calm again, alerting viewers to her location and asking someone to come pick her up.
"I can't believe they just did this," she says.
Then she screams, her anguish clear.
"It's OK," the little girl says. "I'm right here with you."
'I wanted it to go viral'
Philando Castile's fiancée: We had our hands in air 03:46
In fiery remarks to reporters during an impromptu Thursday news conference outside the governor's residence, Reynolds
lambasted the St. Anthony police, saying they separated her from her
daughter, didn't tell her until 3 a.m. that Castile was dead and didn't
take her home until 5 a.m.
"They
took me to jail. They didn't feed us. They didn't give us water," she
said. "They put me in a room and separated me from my child. They
treated me like a prisoner."
She
and Castile had just left the grocery store when they were pulled over.
She cast doubt on the alleged reason for the traffic stop.
"The police officer stopped us for a busted taillight that wasn't busted," Reynolds said.
She said the officer then asked for Castile's identification and as he reached into his back pocket, the officer opened fire.
"They took an innocent man from us. He didn't do anything," she said. "He did exactly as the police asked."
She
said the officer should "not be home with his family" and she would
like to see him jailed. She further expressed disgust that while
officers placed her in the back of the police cruiser, other police were
consoling the officer who shot Castile, telling him he'd be OK.
Asked why she began live-streaming after the shooting, she said she wanted people to know the truth.
"I wanted it to go viral so the people could see," she said. "I wanted everybody in the world to see what the police do."
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