Community Member: 'What Do We Do When We Encounter Them?'
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – St. Anthony Police have cleared the scene in Falcon Heights after a 32-year-old man was shot and killed in an officer involved shooting.
The shooting occurred at the intersection of Larpenteur Avenue and Fry Street. It is now a memorial for the victim who family members identify as Philando Castile.
The interim St. Anthony Police chief said his officers pulled over a vehicle at Larpenteur Avenue and Fry Street around 9 p.m. They said "shots were fired" during the traffic stop, and a handgun was recovered at the scene.
"One adult male was taken to the hospital. We have been informed that this individual is deceased. No one else has been injured, and the BCA has been called in to investigate," Interim St. Anthony Police Chief Jon Mangseth said.
Castile's family said his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, and her 4-year-old daughter were in the car at the time.
Reynolds was taken into custody Wednesday night.
But, before that, she recorded the aftermath of Castile's shooting live under the Facebook account for Lavish Reynolds.
Reynolds, who was in the front passenger seat, said in the video that they were pulled over for a broken tail light. She said police asked Castile, who was driving, for his license and registration. The, she said, as her boyfriend was reaching for his wallet, he informed officers he had a firearm in his possession, as well as a conceal-and-carry permit.
Reynolds said in the video that an officer then shot her boyfriend four times.
Reynolds is then told to get out of the car.
Her cellphone shows several officers with guns drawn, and one officer is holding her daughter, who was in the back seat of the car when Castile was shot.
Almost 200 community members showed up at the scene here in Falcon Heights. They gathered until around 2 a.m. Thursday morning. They said they are frustrated, concerned with the unjustified killings of people of color.
"I was scared. I was just like, 'This world is getting crazy.' I had just seen the video from the guy in Baton Rouge this morning when I woke up getting ready for work, so to see that here so close to home it really made me scared," Christine Westbrook, of St. Paul, said.
"I try to be a child of God at all times. I try not to worry about these things, but I do pray for everyone that has to deal with these types of things and what they encounter with officers I pray for everybody because you just never know. If that is the case, I mean, can we take off our seat belts anymore and be safe? It's almost like, what do we do when we encounter them now?" Umeka Westbrook, of Roseville, said.
The St. Anthony Interim Police Chief said the officer involved is now on standard paid leave.
WCCO asked him if the officer was wearing a body camera, but after making a statement Thursday morning, he declined to answer any questions.
