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.
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